(

Disciple

W ot

C c c fjn iq u e o f tfte J^tSctple

By R a y m u n d A n d r e a , F. R . C .Grand Master of the Rosicrucian Order

for Great Britain

Author of “ The Technique of the M aster”

ROSICRUCIAN LIBRARY VOLUME XVI

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

SU PR E M E G R A N D L O D G E OF A M O R CPrinting and Publishing Department

F IR S T E D IT IO N Copyright, August, 193?

By A M O R C

P R I N T E D A N D B O U N D I N U . S . A . B Y

R O S I C R U C I A N P R E S S , L T D .

S A N J O S E , C A L I F O R N I A

Dedicated with Gratitude

to

H a r v e S p e n c e r L e w i s

Imperator of the Rosicrucian Order

for R[orth and South

America

V V V

The Rosicrucian Library

V V V

Volume I. Rosicrucian Questions and Answers with Complete History of the Order.

Volume II. Rosicrucian Principles for the Home and Business.

Volume III. The Mystical Life of Jesus.

Volume IV. The Secret Doctrines of Jesus. (In preparation.)

Volume V . “ Unto Thee I G rant." (Secret Teachings of Tibet.)

Volume VI. A Thousand Years of Yesterdays. (A Revelation of Reincarnation.)

Volume V II. Self Mastery and Fate with the Cycles of Life. (A Vocational Guide.)

Volume V III. Rosicrucian Manual.

Volume IX . Mystics at Prayer.

Volume X. Rosicrucian Healing. (In preparation.)

Volume XI. Mansions of the Soul. (The Cosmic Conception.)

Volume X II. Lemuria, The Lost Continent of the Pacific.

Volume XIII. The Technique of the Master.

Volume X IV . The Mystery and Prophecy of the Great Pyramid.

Volume X V . The Book of Jasher.

Volume X V I. The Technique of the Disciple.

( Other volumes will be added from time to time. W rite for complete catalogue.)

Contents

PAGE

Introduction.......................................................... • - - 9

CHAPTER

I. The Neophyte Entering on the Path . . . 13

II. The Initial T e s t ...................................................... 23

III. The Neophyte and S e r v ic e ................................ 33

IV. The Neophyte and I n i t ia t iv e ........................... 45

V. The Will of the N e o p h y te ...............................59

VI. The Demands of Discipleship— 1 . . . . 69

VII. The Demands of Discipleship— 2 . . . . 85

VIII. The Demands of Discipleship— 3 . . . . 101

IX. The Organic Structure of the Technique . . 1 1 5

X. The Disciple in A c t i o n ...................................133

XI. The Inquisition of F i r e ...................................149

IN T R O D U C T IO N

In my book, ‘T h e Technique of the Master,” I outlined certain basic principles of thought and action, and methods of esoteric discipline, which appear to characterize the Master during the train' ing of a disciple. These principles and this dis' cipline constitute the necessary foundation upon which a disciple has to build through graduated development a comprehensive structure of tech' nical equipment in order to attain to high initia' tion. I tried to sketch the subject from the M ast' er’s point of view. I took it for granted that read' ers accepted the fact of the existence of the M ast' ers as living personalities, actually operative on this material plane as well as on the Cosmic plane, having full knowledge of the activities of the Order to which we as members are attached, and inspiring certain advanced initiates in carrying on those activities.

Obviously, for those who do not accept this factof the existence of such Masters, the technique ofthe Master and of his disciple can have little signi'

[ 9 ]

ficance. Rosicrucianism, in its esoteric aspect, is grounded upon the fact of Cosmic attunement, a personal alignment with Cosmic forces, by means of which its disciple enters the state of super' consciousness. The technique of the Rosicrucians has its origin in the superconscious realm. There' fore its laws and principles must emanate from perfected technicians who are conversant with that realm. W e say there exists a Rosicrucian Hier' archy, a section of the Great White Lodge, con' sisting of Masters specially deputed to promulgate a technique in which these laws and principles inhere.

In its outer aspect, the Rosicrucian Order is an organization disseminating a systematic teaching, thoroughly practical and of approved utility in the world; and of a deeply mystical and esoteric char' acter, in its inner aspect. It is in this latter aspect that the operative force resides and indeed gives direction and stability to the manifold applications and uses in the everyday world. It is herein also that the technique silently acts and reacts through its chosen channels and is brought to bear withknowledge and understanding upon the lives of

[10}

those who enter and work in the Order. Without this technique, working silently and understand' ingly from the inner fraternity of the Order in and through the outer organization, the latter would cease to be; and the technique, wanting this field for its action and use would remain an isolated and unapplied possession of its proficients.

In this work I have endeavoured to treat the subject from the point of view of the neophyte as he seeks to qualify from the outset of his studies, knowing little of the path before him, or how his new departure in life will react upon himself and his environment. It is not an easy task to embark upon; but I propose to write from my own ex' perience of the path and take the young aspirant step by step along with me, until light and knowL edge dispel doubt and hesitancy and he finds the technique unfolding in his mind and soul and ex' pressing skilfully in his hands in the one great ser' vice to which we have dedicated ourselves, the service of the Master.

V V V

■»yil>IWI''IIPnill! MPIWW’ i ' ji l ’W '^w -iyiirnroFiqiiriim H w q

T H E N EO PH YTE E N T E R IN G O N T H E P A T H

M A ST E R said to his pupil: “ But you have to remember that you are at a hard school, and dealing now with a world en­tirely distinct from your own.” N o better

admonition could be given to the neophyte enter- ing upon his studies. It is an admonition of warn­ing and encouragement. He is invited to remember that he is entering upon a condition of pupilage in which thought and action are to receive a new direction and intention; that he is taking a path totally different from the worldly path he has trod­den hitherto, and must be prepared to conform to new principles none too easy to accept perhaps at the threshold, because some of them will oppose firmly rooted personal beliefs and opinions. But there is great encouragement in the fact that he is placing himself under the tuition of teachers who know the path experimentally which he pro-

[ 1 3 ]

poses to take. They know the difficult stages of it. Just where he will falter they have perfect con­fidence and can lift him up. The admonition re­minds one of the impressions experienced in school days when we were warned of the difficulties awaiting us on passing from the junior to the senior classrooms, and encouraged to persevere in them. It was truly the entering into an entirely different world, and the first steps in it were dif­ficult. Promotion to it came in the natural course of events: it was inevitable if we were to attain to intellectual manhood. But in the case of the neophyte, entering upon the path is a matter of personal choice. He elects to advance from intel­

lectual to psychic and spiritual manhood. He may

do this as unconcernedly as he changed classrooms,

in which case the admonition will have far more

warning in it, but no less encouragement than in

the case of the man who passes on with the strong

resolution to make the most of a great opportunity

to equip himself with a fine and useful culture.

Whatever happens to the former type of neophyte,

the latter will find in himself the patience and per-C H ]

severance which the higher school of life will de­mand of him.

Entering upon the path means a new departure in life; in a sense, a parting of the ways. If it is regarded by the neophyte as just another interest, desirable because others have taken the step, that attitude of mind may soon fail him. It cannot be taken as a pastime with others and with indifferent purpose. He can only make headway on his own native strength. Exceptional strength is not re­quired in the beginning, but there must be cour­age and initiative to use that which he has. His studies will soon demonstrate to him what measure of strength is his. And if he wills to advance he will apply it confidently to the new task of soul culture and find it developing and preparing him for the higher grades.

The first thing the neophyte has to realize is, that his studies will initiate him into a different world from the one he knows. The failure to recognize this fact has caused many a neophyte to cast aside impatiently the very knowledge and discipline he most needed. If the studies offered him had in view only the extended information of

[ m

a senior classroom, they would obviously be a superfluous institution. But this is not so. They comprise well tried systems of scientific teaching and technical instruction designed to turn the neo­phyte’s attention inward upon himself, his com­plex constitution and innate possibilities as a spiritual and psychic being, and they necessarily explore avenues of mental procedure excelling in promise anything he knows and accepts in every­day life. Observe then, that the more firmly ad­justed, the more confirmed he is in his adherence, to the worldly standard of knowledge and achieve­ment, the greater may be the initial difficulty he will experience on his first encounter with the new scale of values the studies will disclose to him.

Let the neophyte assure himself of this fact, that the studies he enters upon hold the key to a new world of progress. No matter what his sym­pathies may be with accepted standards of thought and action, or what his achievements in any field are, he is circumscribed within the relatively limited frontiers of those sympathies, nor can he extend his achievements beyond those frontiers, until he consciously concerns himself wfith the soul

[ 16]

factors that remain latent, but unrecognized, in the background of his activities .There awaits him a new world of thought, emotion and action which can only be possessed by giving his well known factors of expression a subordinate position and looking to the soul for the unfoldment of those super-faculties which in time will enlarge the whole mental horizon for him.

The neophyte may be a student of literature, art or science: all the accepted canons of his branch of study may be familiar and comprise the main portion of his mental content and be applicable by him in commendable demonstration, of the high­est pleasure to himself and of much utility to others; nevertheless, through his training on the path he will find it possible to raise all these activi­ties into a new dimension of added power and in­fluence. A rt may become more expressive, en­shrining itself in more beautiful and diviner types; literature may become a sublime pageant of the biography of the soul, invested with secret mean­ings hitherto undreamed of; and science, instead of being the dull record of irreconcilable facts, maydisclose an illumined avenue of approach to con-

[17]

tact with invisible and magical forces. This is a wonderful truth for the neophyte to ponder at the threshold. The adumbrations of an unique career on the path may fall silently upon the mind like a celestial vision. Let him hold it fast and re­solve to demonstrate the possibilities of it. W hat­ever he has and prizes dearly can be re-created, clarified and oriented in spiritual vision, and be­come a thing of sheer beauty in the light of the soul. Nothing of value which he brings with him on to the path will be taken away: no ideal he has striven for, no work he has fostered through the years, need be renounced. These mental pos­sessions are his present strength, and on that he will make his way. Now, for the first time, all his acquirements of mind and soul are to be rightly understood and assessed and their range of ser­vice and use in all probability increased through an understanding of the laws of transmutation.

It will be interesting to ask, what it is that causes the neophyte to gravitate towards and take up the studies of the path? The answer of many will be that it is entirely for the purpose of spir­itual evolution. In a large percentage of cases this

[18]

is not so. There is undoubtedly no small percent­age who have no such object in view. A careful observation of the lives of various neophytes and their subsequent work and progress proves this conclusively. If every neophyte taking the path was bent solely upon spiritual evolution the world would probably lose in no long time some of its most promising and able workers and pioneers in the realms of practical activities. A t first sight this may appear an unwarranted statement. But ex­perience is stronger than prejudice. Many a neo­phyte— and observe, the neophyte is not necessar­ily a young person, but may be and often is of ma­ture age— enters upon occult and mystical studies for the sole purpose that his chosen profession or life activity may be further advanced by relating it more intimately and forcefully with the secret source of power and revelation which those studies unfold. The purpose is a wise one and fully justi­fied; and if there were more in the occult ranks with the same purpose in view the world would be richer for their presence. The purpose is justi­fied for this reason: such a neophyte will find that

the creations of art and the discoveries of science[ 1 9 ]

originate in the minds of exceptional men and are the offspring of high inspiration. It is the super' element in them which attracts the neophyte and makes him a lifelong devotee of these master minds. And if he ever hopes to emulate them, or indeed to understand their work rightly, he must approach them from a higher level than that of the everyday world. These creators work from the world of mystical and occult forces, whether they know and acknowledge it or not, and to that world the neophyte must look for a full understanding and appreciation of them. The finest things in life are wrought out in a hard school whose laws are entirely distinct from those operative in the school of the world. These laws await the neophyte's dis" covery and application in the studies of the path; and he is as fully justified in seeking their assist" ance to make him a greater artist or scientist, or professional man, at the point of evolution where he stands, as for the purpose of the highest mys" tical and spiritual research and demonstration.

I have known clever students in many lines ofactivity whose complete outlook and grasp of thetruth and principles relating to their profession

[20]

have been widened and reorganised through a period of mystical training. The discipline was strange to them and appeared to promise little at the outset; but their keenness and conscientious" ness, and the desire to be of practical use in the world, enabled them to quickly surmount the initial difficulties. The soul began to awaken to its possibilities and an influx of strength from a larger consciousness soon extended over the whole life. There is nothing mysterious about the process of such an unfoldment. It is as natural as the open" ing of a flower. The neophyte enters upon the work with a feeling of curiosity as to where it will lead him, and in a little while it often happens that he finds himself upon strangely familiar ground. The seed has been sown in a former life, and in contacting others seriously bent upon the studies, the strong vibration of their concerted efforts, working silently upon his life and thought, does as much as the work itself in his hands in quicken" ing latent growth and bringing him to a feeling of security as a unit in the group to which he belongs.

That is a factor he must keep firmly in mind.Although the early stages of his study may present

[21]

him with principles foreign to his habit of thought, the neophyte does not progress on his own unaided strength. Directly he links himself with others on the path he comes more and more to feel the re' active influence of these students upon himself. The law of mental attraction at once comes to his assistance, and a process of attunement with many working to the same end augments his forces and proves to him the great value of cooperative evo' lution as a guarantee of future advancement. In this way he finds his place on the path, and those who supervise his training will see that he receives encouragement and assistance commensurate with his need.

T H E IN IT IA L T E ST

H A T E V E R the particular reason may be that attracts the neophyte to the disci' pline of the path, the real objective should be that of service. His aim may be new

creative ability and increased influence in his pro' fession or other activities, or it may be, as said, en' tirely for mystical and occult purposes: in any case his power for service will undoubtedly be extended and, when all is said and done, world service of some kind should come to influence his researches on the path. Some, we know, enter upon occultism out of mere curiosity, and they usually quickly fall away. M y concern is not with them. I have in mind primarily the neophyte who believes in the existence of undiscovered powers and abilities in himself and is resolved to awaken the sleeping self within and follow in the footsteps of the great teachers who stand in the forefront of evolution.Nothing less than that will satisfy the aspiring soul

[23]

who is aware of the perplexing conditions of modern life, the peremptory challenges and unique opportunities which evolution is forcing upon us, and the great need for able men to meet and use them.

The neophyte who recognizes this need will re­gard himself as a volunteer to a life of discipline, the object of which is to give him skill in service. A s a preliminary in this discipline he is to culti­vate a responsiveness of the personal self to the soul which is to ultimately dominate all his activi­ties. He will seek to transfer the emphasis he has placed so completely upon the objective self, to that informing entity within which will gradually assert its control and initiate him into new areas of consciousness through a growing responsiveness to subtle vibrational measures hitherto unrecog­nized. That is really the whole problem: the cen­tering of attention upon the indwelling self and the expression of its powers in service, as distinct from the emphasis, relatively selfish, hitherto placed upon the objective personal self. Terms should not confuse the neophyte here. Whether through previous study he has come to think of

[24]

himself as soul and body, ego and personality, or the master within and his vehicles of expression, the problem is the same. The divine fire is within and acts and vibrates throughout its own subtle apparatus, and the mortal self seeks through all experience and self-imposed discipline to unveil the hidden glory that it may shine forth and illu­mine the temple. The conscious ascension from the objective plane to that of the divine self is the path of discipline which the volunteer elects to tread in order to qualify for service which is the first step in the evolution of the superman. This should be the objective of the neophyte. But even

if all neophytes recognize it, there is, as in other

spheres, a diversity of types; and while a few of

them will settle down quickly and knowingly,

with a clear conception of the work to be done

and make that kind of progress which compels

recognition, the other types, worthy of all accepta­

tion, will have to ponder every step and proceed

with anxious questionings and partial assurance.

The few take the path boldly, with a feeling of

intimacy, and with the objective clearly outlined [ 25 ]

in mind. The others take it hesitantly, because they are on unfamiliar ground.

This marked difference between the types of neophytes is a fact of much importance for those who supervise their work and progress. There is nothing in this discrimination to deter or discour­age those who are new to the path. It should rather inspire them to the necessary effort to grasp a great opportunity. But the swift advance of the few over the preliminary stages of discipline is a happy indication that they are rapidly unfolding latent occult capacity. Among these we expect to find those to whom the Master referred when he said: uW e will always find volunteers to replace the tired sentries.”

That is why a powerful occult organization isthe most wonderful institution and the mostpromising in the world today, far exceeding inreality and technical equipment the universities ofmiscellaneous knowledge and influence. T o suchwe have to look for the flower of our presenthumanity. Souls who have passed through thefires of crucial experience, who know the strongvibration of life and now stand at a remove from

[26]

it, not because they have renounced it but because they understand and can impose their will upon it, who find peace and inspiration in the silent high places of the soul within and draw secret strength thence, as a charge and responsibility not as a mere personal satisfaction, and give them back in mani­fold forms of service,— these souls stand and serve in solid and mindful cooperation, and from them the neophyte is sure of a ready response. T o feel themselves destined at no distant time, but possibly within their present incarnation, to take their place among these teachers, with the ability to exercise an evolved technique in the lives of incoming neophytes, should be sufficient to inspire the prom­ising few, if not the others, with strong purpose and levelheadedness to pursue their studies with unusual seriousness and a sense of increasing responsibility both to themselves and to their fellow students.

A t this point of a preliminary recognition ofhis value as an awakening soul, with an expansivevista of attainment ahead, it is as necessary for theneophyte to exercise a reasonable restraint as tofoster the eager aspiration for advancement. In

[27]

one form or another fanaticism usually besets this type. On coming into his own on the path every­thing in the economy of life calls for a new valu­ation. He is thrown a little out of focus with things as they are. He has to adjust himself to many subtle changes transpiring within. Life expression in the personality does not like to be diverted from its wonted course. Psychology furnishes a reason for this. The mentation and action of years have fashioned the mind and moulded the texture of brain and body to able response and the require­ments of environment, and a growing attunement with the soul can have but one result. The old rhythm must give place to the new; and the more rapid the attunement and the released force and knowledge of latent growth into the conscious field, the greater will be the need for alertness and flexibility in adjusting to the personal life.

Many neophytes are acutely tried just here. They ask for advancement and compel it, and straightway the law of attraction brings them into the midst of the battlefield with a host of opposing influences confronting them. Some immediately recognize the situation and welcome it. Others

£28]

display weakness and cry for deliverance from that which their own efforts have invoked. But there is the test for the volunteer. The right man will stand his ground however circumstances turn round upon him. He knows that this revolution in the personal life is precisely the point at issue and will risk anything to master it. He knows he cannot pass up to the higher levels of conscious­ness without meeting the exigencies of the ascent. Even the senior classroom has a new master and a tough curriculum, and punishment of a sterner quality. But they mould youth into capable man­hood. It is the same all through life. W e cannot gain the greater things on the same terms as the lesser. Yet that is what so many students expect to do. They have to learn that the soft induce­ments which enabled them to assimilate the alpha­bet do not accompany the mathematics of life. I confess that sometimes, when I have seen a neo­phyte grappling with the initial difficulties inci­dent to the swift recovery of latent faculty stimu­lated by the forceful demand for progress, I have momentarily doubted the kindness, but not the

wisdom, of pressing him forward. This reflection£ 2 9 ]

arises from the indelible memory of one’s own ex- periences, and a solicitude as to whether the neo' phyte will have the strength to meet what awaits him.

Hitherto he understood himself tolerably well: he was at peace with himself. His strength he knew, because no unknown elements had tested it. Confined views directed to personal ends have a gratifying strength of their own, self'sufficient and intolerant of interference; and when the narrow barriers, which alone support him, are suddenly removed through the neophyte’s own efforts, the resulting experience is often a humiliating one. He does not altogether welcome the process of dis- lllusionment. Yet this is what his discipline has in view. It teaches a true self-awareness which leads to attunement with higher forces; and from that time onward the personal life must adjust as best it can to the potencies which gradually unfold into consciousness the biography of the spiritual man.

The neophyte can never hope to know himself until his strength has been sharply tried as to what sort it is. It will be well for him if the days that

[30]

are gone have held their full portion of aspiration, struggle and suffering on the plane of purely per' sonal forces. For a weak and timid spirit, nursed in the soft lap of the good things of life, unexer' cised in the cardinal virtues of patience and com' passion, and knowing nothing of the healthy an- tagonism that measures itself against opposing forces, will have much to overcome and much to build in that personality which has now to exert itself. This is the crisis which quickly segregates the different types. Once again let it be said, there is no cause for discouragement in awakening to the truth of things. The awakening must come. W hy not let it come now and use the opportunity it gives? The neophyte who is ready for it and can bear the revelation of himself as he is, will not falter when the Karma of the past projects itself into the present in many mysterious shapes and challenges his initiative and courage to deal with it.

A word must be said about the type of neo' phyte who fails the great opportunity. He cer­tainly does exist and is well known. One some' times wonders how he came to venture upon a

[31]

new path in life at all. The fact is, he is bound hand and foot to his past. On no account must a single strand of that sweet bondage to what he knows and can do be snapped in the name of mem tal freedom and spiritual orientation. N o assur­ance or promise can endow this type with the eagle instinct. I have known him to drop preliminary occult study as if stung by a scorpion. The fund­amental cause of this is— fear of the future. It strangles the very life out of all advancement and great work and makes a man a slave to the end of his days. Others stand ready to help him, from their knowledge and experience fully understand­ing the problem that besets and hinders him, but they can do nothing. They cannot drag a man along the path; neither will they attempt to coerce him. The law works here perhaps more rigorously than anywhere else in life. The neophyte must leave the home of the personality from free choice if he is to traverse the kingdom of the soul. Until he is ready to make the choice he is safer where he is for this incarnation.

V V V

T H E N EO PH YTE A N D SER V IC E

N E OF TH E reasons why the discipline of the path has been termed a “ hard school,” is because the ordinary mo­tives for action have to be reversed and

given more impersonal direction. The neophyte has to think in terms of others as well as of himself. He finds it difficult to accept the condi­tion whole-heartedly of pledging himself to ser­vice as soon as he enters thoroughly upon self development. This is not the case with the neo­phyte only; it is often so with those who have sought advancement for many years on the path. When it is suggested that they should throw their influence into other lives, think wisely for them and extend to them their knowledge, they fail to see any connection between self-development and interest in the development of others. I believe this arises largely from the fact that, although theyknow the Masters are spoken of as the servants of

[ 3 3 }

men, they imagine the law of service does not apply until they themselves are well advanced on the path. They are scarcely to be blamed for this, because many schools and systems of occult edu­cation do not particularly stress the importance of service, but concentrate almost exclusively upon methods of self-development or self-importance, with personal power as the sole objective. Within certain limits this objective is quite possible. It is also legitimate and free from objection if one is thinking only in terms of the material plane. It is possible to make some occult progress without any special consideration of service to others; but only within very narrow limits. The time comes in the progress of a man of any commendable quality when this kind of exclusive programme proves to be a most unsatisfactory affair. Psychic develop­ment is quite compatible with the selfish attitude towards life, and in some instances has been car­ried so far as to enter well within the confines of black magic. The modern press has furnished many instances of this in the publication of authenticated cases; some even extending to the hellish practiceof compelling money and property from weak-

[34]

minded persons through hypnotic influence. Soul development is impossible on these terms. Study well the two paths. They run very close to each other up to a critical point, where they separate widely for ever. Then it is seen that the true path resolves itself into the narrow and flaming way of

service.

W hy must the neophyte learn to serve? Be­cause the Master whom he aspires to know is per­fected in sendee, and there can be no intimate as­sociation with him in world work until the neo­phyte has learned through long probation to like­wise serve, and serve efficiently. Service is not however necessarily of an occult character. W e have a corroborative hint of this from the Master when he says: “ Nay, but what better cause for reward, what better discipline, than the daily and hourly performance of duty.” That is character­istic of the teaching of the Master. He points the neophyte back to first principles, to the place where he now stands, and bids him be productive in that place. That does not appear very inviting to the neophyte. He looks for something im­portant at the beginning, something different from

T 3 5 ]

the occupation of the average man, if only to have himself remarked as a notable character.

How typical of this age is that attitude of mind, in occultism as in other directions! It merits the harsh criticism often dealt out to it. Our noble- minded ancestors, of only a generation ago, were not possessed with this provincial spirit to any the like degree that is common around us today. And to go further back, the Masters, who figure in my mind as belonging to an old and classic humanity, to whom the masks and mummeries and triumphs of our day pass for nothing, stand as an inspiring example of reality and durableness and self-efface­ment which makes our little ambitions and desire for effect unworthy of serious notice. Small wonder is it that the Master has to wait, even through incarnations, for us to awaken from this sleep of the senses. Small wonder that the neo­phyte is compelled to open his own eyes just where he is and shake off the hypnotic sleep of unreality and false values that hang heavy about him. I be­lieve one’s affection for the Master grows most as he realises more and more the infinite patience ex­ercised with the children of the path during this

[36]

awakening process. It can only be a patience grounded upon supernal wisdom and perfect com­passion. Nothing less could exercise it.

Neophytes are sometimes of that turn of mind that they lust for power over their fellowmen. Their objective in this study is to win the reputa­tion of being notable characters. This attitude slays the soul for real achievement. It is forbidden ground, and the man who treads it is soon lost in the swamp of illusion. He has a long way to go before he can hope to lord it over the souls of men. But when he can really do that on the path, the sense of lordship loses its worldly attributes. He then has a new definition for it— ascendancy over others through having given himself in service for their sakes. He will then be as careful in imposing that supremacy abroad as in surrendering his own personality to foreign influence. The neophyte can lord it over others to his heart’s content on the physical and mental planes if he has cultivated force to that end; but not on the spiritual plane. He requires a greater and purified force there; and this he will gain only when the objectionable voice of personal superiority has been made dumb

[37]

through probation. So long as this speaks he is on the mental plane, and his service will be vitiated because of its initiation from that plane. It will be service actuated largely by self'interest, and will pass with others for what it is worth.

Service on the path means service because one wants to and must serve. If that ideal carries with it too strong a note of selbeffacement, it is not the ideal that is wrong, but the conception of the neophyte of the work before him. There is one aspect of life on the path which is exactly similar to what obtains in the world: there is a price for everything worth having. Strangely enough, many believe this law has no place in occultism. But the law is more exacting there than anywhere else. The occult path is an individual one, and every step thereon has to be cut by the neophyte’s own hands and trodden by his own feet. This is not an arbitrary law made by his teachers. It is an un' alterable condition in the sphere of the Masters— that to receive he must give. It is a severe and mortifying condition for the personality that loves to grasp and live for itself; but because there is no other way for one to gain even a preliminary

[38]

measure of true self'knowledge, to advance him' self only to the minor initiations of the path, ser' vice must be recognized by the neophyte as sy' nonymous with development. From the Master’s point of view development is service, and service means swift advancement in understanding of the technique of the path.

The neophyte’s service is not necessarily occult in character. One might say it is not necessarily occult in character in the case of the advanced man. Pause for a moment on that statement. St. Paul’s comment upon the diversities of gifts applies here. The recognition in their fulness of his innate gifts will determine the neophyte’s mission in life. Years may pass in different spheres before those gifts are recognized. And one of the most striking results of service is the peculiar power of its dis' cipline in initiating him into the sphere of the soul and unfolding faculties hitherto unperceived, or but dimly recognized and partially expressed. The process is in nature occult: the awakening of the soul resulting from it may lead him to minister to the sick, inspire him to some mechanical invention of practical utility to the people, or take him into

[39]

church or city to assist youth or foster schemes of child culture. This idea is strongly marked when the neophyte is bidden to remember that the dis' ciples of the Masters are just as likely to be found engaged in political, social and economic fields, as in spiritual and religious. There are perhaps no examples so powerfully indicative of this as are to be found in the history of the Rosicrucian fra' ternity. Their influence can be traced throughout the civilized world in literature, art and science, in church and state, in mystical illumination and OC' cult achievements. That being so, the neophyte should enter upon his training with an open mind in the matter of what line of service his studies will eventually disclose as fittest for him. A s the training goes forward one thing is certain: that which he can best do will be brought into promi' nence and matured, and it will not be long before he finds ways and means of applying his abilities along lines satisfactory to himself and of value to the world.

I fully sympathize with the neophyte who may pause here as a shadow of disappointment settles upon him on meeting with so emphatic an insist'

[40]

ence upon service as the key to high development. I know well that he enters upon his studies with hopeful ambition for personal conquest; and the idea of service savours too much of the religious observance inculcated in youthful days. But he has to remember that he is passing now within the domain of an exact science, the technique of which consists of inexorable laws of thought and prin' ciples of action which cannot be abrogated with impunity. The act of service on the path releases the power of the soul. Unfoldment is not con' tingent only upon the absorption of material gained from the studies. The athelete is not made by the most comprehensive study of anatomy and reflection upon works of physical culture. He has to translate these into the terms of muscular train' ing and scientific body building, combined with manifold mental adjustments relative to the feats he desires to accomplish. So with the neophyte. The forces he seeks to know and manipulate are resident within and existing around him. W hat he needs is the key to enable him to tap these infinite sources that await the call of the will to bring

them into active combination and use. Faith plays£ 4 1 ]

a far more active part in the neophyte’s unfold' ment and use of power than he is inclined to be' lieve. He may obtain many hints of this in times of emergency and stress, if he is observant of his deeper nature. The steady and continuous effort to use himself in service in any way that circum' stances suggest or afford the least opportunity, will teach the neophyte far more than extended reading in occultism. He has no idea of what he is capable until he rises confidently in the fact of human need and compels the response of the soul’s innate power in meeting it. If he can force the issue with himself and act with this confidence, the soul aspect will be brought powerfully into prom' inence without loss of time. Everything will de' pend upon the type of mind the neophyte brings to the task; but if he can summon that force of will and clear the ground early in his novitiate for strong and decisive effort, and make the necessary adjustments in his life, perhaps at some personal cost to himself, the future years will applaud his courage and resolution and justify the past.

There is no room for the lukewarm neophyteon the path, nor have the exigencies of life any

[ 4 2 ]

room for him. On the path men of action are needed. There are enough cults, societies and circles in existence which will afford the lack' adaisical ample hospitality to dream life away. But the man we have in mind must leave these things to those who need them, or use them him' self as a diversion or relaxation from hard personal effort to make himself a firstclass technician; then he will be of some use in the world and others will emulate his example.

V V V

T H E N EO PH YTE A N D IN IT IA T IV E

H ERE is one quality imperatively de' manded in the neophyte who essays to make good his position on the path. That quality is initiative. It is that quality in

the character which, in itself, is almost a guaram tee of success in whatever direction it is judicious' ly exercised. There is one neophyte who has it: it is a part of his natural equipment, and he will show it in everything he handles. There is another who has it not: it is not a part of his natural equipment, and he will have to labour assiduous' ly for it. The first will quickly make the studies his own and apply them in a personal and ingen' ious way. The other will find even the rudiments of the science strange and revolutionary, and every line and precept will have to be hammered into the mind and ruminated upon again and again before there is full acceptance and understanding. But it should mean much to him that he is on the

[45]

path and started upon the conquest of difficulties which cannot be encountered elsewhere and which will ultimately have such momentous consequences for him. But I pass on to consider the neophyte with initiative.

A peculiar interest attaches to the neophyte who displays marked initiative in his occult work. He is not new to the path and is therefore a poten' tial character which cannot be fully anticipated and must be allowed a certain margin of freedom. This does not mean that he is at liberty to over' ride his teachers, or ignore the rules of discipline. N or do we expect this attitude in him, but the re' verse. Nevertheless, the failing often observable in this type of aspirant is an impatience for ad' vanced work and a short cut to it. A little more advancement in self'knowledge will rectify this.

It is as necessary for him to be scrupulously exact

in making sound the foundation for future work

as for the veriest tyro, although he may dispute

this point. But those who offer him their assist'

ance know, and ripe experience is not to be dis'

counted.

In the schools of painting an implicit obedience to the rules of the art is enjoined upon the young student. Possessed, as he usually is, with a vivid imagination and fired by the contemplation of the works of the great masters, his mind runs far ahead of his hand; the fluent execution of the p er feet model inclines him to overlook the painstaking novitiate during which the master in the making compelled untutored nature to follow with slavish exactness the ancient rules which his matured work reveals to the seeing eye in every line. Here is a hint for the neophyte. N o matter what his power of instant appreciation may be of the work and service of the finished occultist, he must apply himself humbly and with deep sincerity to the rudiments of the science. No matter what his in' born initiative may be, it is not for him to criticise, but to obey. A margin of freedom is permissible to him, but not before a reasonable period of per' sonality culture, in the occult sense, and of strict obedience to the rules of discipline has been passed.

This first cycle of basic preparation is of import' ance, if only to teach him patience and humility. His first contemplation of the Masters and their

[47]

easy ascendancy and manipulation of force, is something of a revelation and not a little stagger' ing to the ambitious mind; and consequently there is a tendency to lose a sense of perspective and a resolution to reach this level at a bound. There is also sometimes a tendency to indulge a natural slothfulness and neglect some of the stages of early discipline. The labour required to attain exactness is unacceptable, and the neophyte is opposed to conquest by slow approaches to the goal. The vivid imagination, so valuable in its place, is res' ponsible for this mistaken attitude. It is imposed upon by the vision of perfection and forgets the tedious process of becoming that precedes it.

Those who lead have most faithfully followed. Nothing is lost by bending the will to take the preliminary stages of discipline with crucial at' tention. This may appear to leave little scope for initiative; but even initiative is subject to the law of growth. The failure to realize this is the reason that students of occultism, with multifarious read' ing to their credit, are unproductive in the way of service. One can only teach and assist others by knowing theoretically and practically every step

[48]

of the way in his own living experience. I have known many instances of both types of students. The one has been encyclopaedic in occult knowh edge, yet pessimistic and doubtful, with a pathetic helplessness in the direction of throwing his im fluence into other lives for unfoldment. The other has demonstrated his painfully assimilated lesser knowledge step by step and compelled recognition by a well'directed application of it. That is the beginning of real initiative, and the more advanced stages will be taken by that student with a facility and power in demonstration which the other never knew.

Through obedience the neophyte develops and accumulates force for original work. From a solicitousness that he shall not fail in applying any detail of discipline, definite qualifications are gain' ed. Perhaps the most important is that he learns to trust himself. Above all things the Master re' quires that quality in a technician. The Master will never trust the man who has not confidence in himself. That self'trust fully established, the work before him assumes a different aspect to the neophyte. He is no longer only a copyist; he be'

[49]

gins to initiate. W ith a sure eye for progress, cul- tured by a diligent survey of the studies at his disposal, he will now have a well-filled back­ground of the worthy examples of his teachers upon which to reflect. He will appreciate more truly the value of these examples through an un­derstanding of the discipline which raised them to eminence.

It is but a step further when, through a critical examination of the master minds, he will uncon­sciously express somewhat of their virtue and skill in action in his own life. Still heedful, even to a greater degree, of the accredited rules of discipline which have brought him so far, he will come to exercise a kind of authority over the rules them­selves. He will use them with a freedom and ex­tended application suitable to his own individual need. Obeying the rules now unconsciously, he will lose the sense of restraint imposed by them and feel free to press on upon his own initiative. He is a faithful neophyte still, but also an aspirant who has passed successfully through the prelim­inary cycle of development, aware of his weak­nesses, yet feeling his strength and able to serve.

[50]

It must not be thought that this transition from a careful and conscientious dependence upon the rules of discipline to a conscious elevation above and partial independence of them is to be easily and swiftly made. The stage of progress I have concisely depicted admits of amplification. A famil­iarity with the rules of occult procedure is the first period, and it necessarily comprises a thorough understanding of the occult doctrine which it is the object of the rules to demonstrate. It is to be remarked that a deep and discursive reading in occultism is not absolutely necessary for the neo­phyte. This, I do not hesitate to say, may exercise a peculiarly hindering influence upon some types of students. There is, for instance, the very prac­tical type who quickly tires of doctrine, but has a marked facility for putting every theory to the test. It is not that he is ignorant of the value of and the necessity for understanding thoroughly the theoretical groundwork which must precede exper­imentation and application, but it is naturally diffi­cult for him to divorce action from study and find satisfaction and repose in omniscient tirades on the possibilities of man. He believes in the demon-

[51]

stration of possibilities, instead of endless and stupifying visualisation of them. The principles and practice of the technique grow apace in the mind and soul of that kind of neophyte. Initiative with him is a daily development. He is one who approves himself in the eyes of his teachers, be­cause he has that in him which is much sought for by them, the ability and eagerness to work himself into life and circumstances at every step of the way. A hint will prove more prolific in him of results than a library to the type lacking initiative.

Another type, no less commendable than the above, will have a fine aptitude for combining extensive study with a versatile use of it. Dis­cursive reading is a necessity to him. He feels the need of ranging widely over a number of pre­sentations of doctrine. He has a definite line of application in view which the basic rules reveal, and brings all his varied knowledge to bear posi­tively to that end. But this is contingent upon the possession of a well-balanced mind, a power of keen discrimination, and an ability to grasp intel­lectually many varieties of occult doctrine without

[52]

being perplexed by the different angles of vision of their authors, or weakening in the main line of advance in a practical objective. In this matter the neophyte will therefore wisely consult his peculiar mental disposition and the guidance of his intui­tion. Whichever line he adopts, let him hold fast to the central aim of applying the rules of disci­pline and experimentation continuously and ex- actingly to the unfoldment of his personal powers and the alert and energetic projection of these into some field of labour to justify his presence on the path.

Under this procedure he will enter upon the second cycle of the novitiate. Through the stren­uous application of his present knowledge and per­sonal influence in his vocation and in service, his interest in the science will bring within his pur­view the works and achievements of many Masters of varying degrees of technique who have trodden the path. His aim will be to gain a right perspec­tive of himself in relation to these Masters. Their superiority and excellence will fire his imagination to greater effort as the ideal man comes more and more to possess it. Those perfections which he

[53]

observes in each will gradually take shape in one dominating idea of the Master life, and narrow and one-sided conceptions will be displaced by a full and rounded impression of the character he emulates. The master minds of occultism have their individual peculiarities and mental predilec­tions and, as we have seen, in their statements of doctrine and personal methods of demonstration, there is a great deal of apparent contrariety which has led to much useless controversy among those of narrow outlook and limited sympathies. The path is one; the master minds who have taken it are many. Truth is one; but can we conceive the truth of the great cosmos being capable of ex­pression through one illumined soul? That is a thought for the neophyte to ponder and allow to influence his entire attitude of research. His ob­jective is to become a representative of the Brother­hood of Masters. He will find that the members of it are exponents of a technique which is as diverse in its tenor and application as the indi­vidual minds and personalities of the M asters themselves. A s I am writing primarily for the Rosicrucian neophyte, we are thinking specifically

[54]

of the Rosicrucian technique; but let him not, for that reason, shut out the allied rays of the tech­nique that shine down beneficently upon his path from the one great centre of illumination. The path is one; truth is one; the Masters are one in the Cosmic in perception and illumination; yet each with a perfected technique peculiarly adapted to the mental, psychic, and spiritual constitutions of the several authentic schools of discipline and initiates who seek their aid for the purpose of accomplishing their work. That is what I mean by the elimination of a narrow, one-sided concep­tion of the truth of divine science and the com­prehensive technique expressing through its per­fected Masters, and the substitution of an expan­sive and growing mind that aspires to take all knowledge for its province and use it to the end of a full and balanced development for the salvage of human lives.

The third cycle of the novitiate is a culminating one and should find the neophyte well along the path with well-defined mental qualities indicating that the groundwork of the technique has been laid and is operative in his life. I say nothing

[55]

specifically here of his particular studies; those are of his own choice and persuasion. I am concerned with the technique of the path and have indicated that phase of it which I consider of vital import' ance in the accomplishment of practical works in the world and which is preeminently needed today. During the third cycle the neophyte has presum' ably prosecuted a discriminating study of many exponents of the technique. He will have observed their individual peculiarities and their diverse ap' plications of the technique in original departmental work; and from these examples he wTill have gathered to himself and combined into one com' posite conception a compelling individual tech' nique which allows his constitution full expression in personal initiative. He will put himself to the trial by a powerful endeavour to act from the alti' tude of vision and achievement of those master minds who have for so long been the object of his study and emulation, until through a sympa' thetic attunement their dignity and strength be- come his by participation and enable him to com' mand increasing recognition from Cosmic sources

through fulfilling the law which is pledged to[56]

gratify the deepest aspirations of the dedicated soul.

Some of my readers may think that I am de' manding a measure of efficiency not to be expected during the comparatively brief term of the novi' tiate. I can only say that I am constrained to this view of the task because I have worked it out steadfastly and unfailingly in my own case, and 1 impart my experience for their encouragement. Moreover, I have always regarded the task with the utmost seriousness and spared no pains to ful' fill in the spirit and the letter the austere demands which confront every aspirant who essays the great adventure. Therefore I am assuming in the necK phyte all those basic qualities of character which, when once he is launched upon the path, will urge him to bring his whole life into line with Cosmic

purposes, undeterred by any personal weaknesses

or temporary failures, holding ever steadily in

mind that conception of masterhood which he has

built up in the interludes of study and contempla'

tion, and compelling every power and faculty to

respond obediently to that grand conception.[57]

T H E W ILL O F T H E N EO PH YTE

F T H E neophyte complies with the rules of discipline over the required period he will come to recognise in himself the de­velopment of distinct qualities in the per­

sonality. He has brought an inventive mind to his work and sought new ways in which to apply it. He has initiative; and at the back of initiative is always found the developing will. The central power to be and do drives him on to exploit him­self; then we have the neophyte alive to his task and already working on the side of evolution. His service has grown purposeful and effective, and the reactions upon himself from near and far are carrying his unfoldment steadily forward.

The responsible factor in this cycle of advance­ment has been the awakening will. This is the key to all his future progress. Every faculty is related to it; self-expression upon every plane revolves around it. Observe how pregnantly the will is

[59]

referred to in the writings of the Masters. From one aspect the life of the Master may be regarded as organised will. From whatever aspect of his work we regard the Master, we cannot ignore this finely-tempered Cosmic attribute expressing with mathematical precision the resourceful tech­nique to which we aspire. Wisdom, compassion, knowledge— they would lose their name without that irresistible, directive force which gives them form and potency. The neophyte may be assured that, in the last analysis, it is according to his will that he is known and valued. His development is a spiral ascension in will consciousness.

In early years I was much impressed by the peculiar phenomenon of genius. I quickly set apart the favoured few who possessed it from the brilliant and clever who did not. I paid deep homage to these characters, although I did not understand the source and meaning of the precious gifts they displayed. I believed simply in inspira­tion and knew they were the recipients of it. Now, I regard genius as a phase of discipleship, in most cases, of unconscious discipleship, androoted in the occult world of force. And I suggest

[60]

that if the neophyte wishes for some idea of the technician’s will in action, he should study the world’s great characters, in whatever sphere they have moved. I am not concerned with their vir­tues, or vices, or eccentricities. Let him study the awakened man in action and driving his influence across the world; because when he becomes a disciple, he will have to demonstrate just that quality of the concentrated will, forced into ave­nues of unique activity, which compels recognition by virtue of its inspirational content and value in evolution. Thus, in an indirect way and through examples of imperfect because unconscious disciple­ship, he will realise vividly what he may expect to find coming to fruition in the technician on the path. Through the contemplation of these char­acters he will gradually acquire the flavour and ultimately touch the essence of that divine inspira­tion which is the secret of their ascendency. His contemplation will be of the vital, energizing force in genius which has that appealing quality in it of a new creation, untiring, initiating, and inspir­ing others to reach up to it and surpass themselves

in the effort.

True, there are diversities of genius, and not all manifest the energising and masterful quality of action. But genius is always new, always orig­inal, and touches with apparent ease some level of achievement and expresses almost unconsciously that kind of faculty which is the despair of the merely clever and assiduous. How often it baffles and depresses the ambitious! That is an incident of its nature, not its aim. Its mission is to carry the world on and lead humanity up from the sordid and commonplace to the beautiful and noble in nature and man. It leaves in the hearts of men a disquieting dissatisfaction and pathetic longing for that which in their best moments they claim as their own but cannot reach.

Observing the effect of the magnetism of the will of genius impressing itself irresistibly and in­differently upon the learned and illiterate alike, it is not difficult to understand and give complete assent to those forceful words of the Master: “ He who gets knowledge by certain intuition, lays hands upon its various forms with supreme ra­pidity, by fierce effort of will.” Let us revolve that statement a little in its application to the

[62]

genius, apart from any particular occult signifi­cance, since it is so truly representative of him; for in considering this worldly phenomenon of the will in commanding and original action, the im­pression I seek to convey to the neophyte will be enhanced. The genius by certain intuition seises upon the hidden secrets of mind and nature and by fierce effort of will drags them forth to the light of day, giving them uncommon application and enriching some department of life in his sing­ular handling of them. There is a divine extra­vagance in the way he does this, an autocratic procedure which fools criticise and wise men re­joice at. For the thing is good and ravishes the appreciative eye and heart. Indeed, there is noth­ing that so truly apprises us of the presence of divinity in human life. W e may recall what was said by a scholar of his reading of Homer; that his whole form appeared to himself to be enlarged and all nature which surrounded him diminish to atoms. Such is the effect upon men of a divine faculty informing a perfected and responsive per­sonality resigning itself with perfect abandon tothe overshadowing afflatus.

[63]

So is it with the disciple who stands near to the Master. He may not possess the fiery quality of notable achievement. He may walk in humble paths and remain unknown. His will may not have that direction which attracts public attention; but awakened it must be and demonstrating actively in its sphere. To call a man of weak will a disciple is a misnomer. If this is questioned, why do the Masters lay such emphasis upon the highest de' velopment of the will? It is the indispensable pivot of the structure of technical training they incul' cate. And remembering how important is the will in the achievement of anything of value in the world, the necessity is at once seen for its superior education when a man begins to work upon him' self in an interior way. The will must be brought to that tension and glow at the heart of life which nothing on any plane can damp or hinder.

I said that compliance with the prescribed rules of discipline will bring to the neophyte a sense of awareness of a forward tendency throughout the personal economy. He has acquired the habit of self'direction, of imposing the will upon the activi' ties of his vehicles. He will not make the mistake

[64]

of thinking he thus creates will, but that through strong intention in study and meditation he grad' ually organizes his faculties, coordinates his ac' tivities, and so affords the omnipresent, Cosmic force resident in the soul an opportunity of ex' pression. It is the organization of the outer pen sonification which affords an avenue of release of the divinity within, the energizing, creative force underlying all manifestation and which, the more powerfully and purely we see it informing a pen sonality, the more we feel that here is great will in calm possession and ensuring unobstructed ex' pression. And looking beyond genius to the pen feet example of the Master using his many'sided technique with freedom and exactitude, the effect upon the neophyte will be one of profound ven' eration and the desire to take with all possible and legitimate speed the stages of discipleship.

He will not overlook the need of perspective inthis self'dedication and resolve. The genius, weknow, disdains to look abroad for help fromothers. He is powerfully developed, usually over'developed, from the occult point of view, in onespecific area of consciousness and its use. Su'

[65]

premacy in his chosen field is sufficient compen­sation for him for ignorance, eccentricity, or want of balance in other departments of his constitution. The world thinks so, too. But the neophyte can­not afford to think so. He will quickly realize this if he studies both intellectually and intuitionally the fine and gentle poise, the illumined and gra­cious speech, and the exquisite application of spir­itual technique of the Master in human evolution. A s with the reader of Homer, he will find his entire nature enlarged by the contemplation, but nature around him will not be diminished to atoms; it will acquire a new significance in his eyes of beauty, rhythm and law, and he will strive un­ceasingly to express these attributes in his own personal life.

Is it necessary to add that this fine discrimina­tion and balanced conception of the neophyte is contingent upon his having made the third period of the novitiate a full and productive one? This period of study and of coordinating his knowledge must be characterized by all the ardour and en­thusiasm of the true artist. A strong incentive ofthe will does not emerge from a mere desire for it.

[66]

Genius is indefatigable in ranging over the world of knowledge pertaining to its personal exercise. It has that reach of mind which draws into its sphere everything good and useful accomplished by its predecessors. From the queerest and most hidden sources it brings to its hands the secret signatures of power and wisdom with which to measure its technique against the greatest achieve­ments of men. It collects material with an avidity known only to those possessed of a boundless passion towards a fixed aim. It is not a copyist; it scorns imitations. It does not collect for the purpose of imitation. It discerns in its material an unique possibility, and evolves a combination of

sterling value consistent with and only possible to

its individual technical foresight. W hat is it that

works this miracle of a new creation that some­

times suddenly surpass all the plodding labour of

generations of men? It is the vision of an aroused

soul and the commanding will, polarized stead­

fastly to its aim, congregating with dynamic in­

tensity all the ingredients necessary to the objec-

tivation of that vision.[67]

Let the neophyte not be deterred by the magni­tude of the ideal held before him. I give it this shape with deep intent to bring him to that en­larged and masterful view of his calling, whereby the powers of the soul will be incited to express themselves and ensure the needed Cosmic contacts essential in developing his technique. He builds upon the finished works of his predecessors on the path. During the third period of novitiate he makes these works his own through sympathetic understanding, not the sympathy of fact but of spiritual atmosphere. He rises imperceptibly into the thought sphere of these regal minds, if so be nature has qualified him for this classic apprecia­tion; his life becomes saturated with the genius of the path, permeating him with will impulses divine and irresistible in character, and tutoring him to that conception of beauty and simplicity which is ever the appanage of genius and super- eminent in the disciple of the Master.

V V V

T H E D E M A N D S OF D ISCIPLESH IP— 1

N BRIEF compass the stages of novitiate have been outlined. In the majority of cases it is a long and exacting period of study and preparation during which the

fundamentals of the technique have to be thor­oughly understood by the neophyte and find prac­tical expression in his daily life. When this ob­jective has been reached he will have the assurance within himself, through signs clear and unmistak­able in character, that he has entered upon the stage of discipleship. He will have brought himself to that point of development where the Master will be interested in his value as a factor in evolu­tion, and the Master will, unperceived and un­known perhaps to the disciple, afford him means of knowledge and progress, through recognized teachers on the objective plane, whereby he may qualify for accepted pupilage in time under that

Master.

Many disciples there are in the various schoolsof occultism who are engaged in this task of quahification for personal acceptance; but compara'tively few have undeniable proof of such accept'ance. W hy is this— especially in view of the factthat thousands of earnest aspirants of every con'ceivable type of occult persuasion, some of largeand commendable mentality and equipment, areon the path? It is because they lack certain im'mensely important elements of technical skill inthe light of the M aster’s judgment and need forspecialized work. Some who have read “ The Tech'nique of the M aster” have said that the book atonce inspired and discouraged because, whilst theirdeepest intuition responded to its teaching whichprobed to the heart of their individual problemsand gave them new strength for advancement,there was a note of austerity in the requirementsdemanded by the Masters in those who were ad'mitted to their confidence. I do not think this canbe denied. But let us look at the matter from theeveryday point of view; since if we are to have asound and sober conception of ourselves as occult'ists, we must constantly seek for analogies among

[70]

the forces and circumstances of the outer world torightly interpret the laws and conditions of theworld of the soul. I consider it desirable thatthe neophyte should be a man before he is anoccultist. I will explain what I mean. The hall'mark of men of light and learning, in whateversphere of achievement, is perfected faculty andfaultless execution within the limits of that sphere.I do not speak merely of men of genius whoseworks always shine with this two'fold lustre, butof men of lesser magnitude; men of laborious, pa'tient and scrutinizing ability, self'denying to thelast degree in the interest of their chosen aim,severe and implacable critics of themselves andtheir work, imperturbable in the face of oppositionand criticism from circumstances and men. W hat'ever amiable qualities they manifest to others,whatever their kindness and consideration andadaptability to their fellowmen, to themselves theyare hard and inflexible taskmasters. I am notthinking of automatons, but of men who givethemselves heart and soul to great purpose andconform their lives to serve and follow that puppose. I do not speak beyond what the facts of

[ 7 1 ]

such lives daily reveal, if one takes the trouble to read their written and unwritten biographies. The pioneer work of the world rests upon the shoulders of such men. This being so, what are we to expect that the Masters, who are perfected men in the highest and noblest sense, require of their disciples who offer themselves and aspire to share in the most momentous task possible to man, the culture and utilization of occult forces in the evolution of souls? There is not the slightest doubt that the demands of the Masters in the selection and use of a disciple are based upon preparation and personal demonstration in accordance with occult laws, which are entirely outside the cate­gories of culture and experimentation inculcated and applied in any of the schools of ordinary knowledge. The neophyte may assure himself of this fact from personal observation of exponents of the technique. He will find that these tech­nicians and their methods of execution defy all ordinary classification, simply because the under­lying laws and principles have their source in a sphere beyond the circumscribed bounds of or­dinary knowledge and usage.

[72]

This is why it has been said that the rules of occultism have significance for the disciple only, for those who take knowledge in the true and mystical sense; that to none but those who are disciples are they of any use or interest. The pith of that statement is, that until the student has thoroughly prepared himself during the period of discipline as a neophyte, the said rules will not convey to him their intended significance. He will read them as a fact of science, instead of luminous aphorisms epitomising a body of intimate spiritual experience. So many students read in the former sense and ask others to give them what can only be lived. No one can give them the power to read in the occult sense. Depth and intensity of living alone give it. The neophyte who shrinks from the profoundly meaningful words, depth and intensity, had better stand back for a while. The path of discipleship will lead him into deep waters. Fear has held many a man back at the first glimpse of these waters. Perhaps this is well. It is not easy to pass on alone. It is wise to try out one’s nerve sufficiently before stepping off the ground

he knows well. Once beyond the frontiers there[73]

is no going back. In passing he will lose his hold of many things he has grasped firmly through life. The issue for him now is, whether he can trust the soul to find a new path that will lead him to something infinitely more enduring to replace what he will lose.

The path of the neophyte merges almost insen­sibly into that of the disciple. Yet they are sharply distinguished in discipline and purpose. There is gentle and persuasive encouragement for the neo­phyte. He is led by an easy approach from the way of the world to think in terms of the soul. It is an experiment in higher culture, and he will succeed with it according to capacity and guid­ance. But the path of the disciple is marked by a note of severity. He has chosen a vocation for life, and what eminence he will reach in it lies

chiefly with himself. Hence the concise declara­

tion of the scripture, that the rules pertaining to

this life are of use to none but those who choose

this vocation with a clear understanding of the

nature of their choice and the demands it will

make upon them.

First, a word as to the more stringent conditions which obtain on this path. It is the high school which the man enters with certain definite acquire­ments of his novitiate. He has a good deal of self- knowledge and knows how to use the mind with concentrated effect in study and meditation. Now he has to compel that mind to initiate experience in a deeper sense and upon an ever-widening scale. There is only one thing which will ensure this: decisive action within the personality and without. I have known students who, during their novitiate, rejoiced exceedingly because they had found a new peace and tranquillity through a preliminary de­tachment from many worldly interests; and their chief aim as they passed on to higher work was to increase this quiescence of the personality which they felt to be so desirable. They had yet to learn that undisturbed tranquillity is not for the disciple. If the disciple wants that above all things he will do well to stay where he is until he tires of it. He certainly will tire of it. I have also known those who tarried so long in this first heaven of quietude that it became a hell of unrest to them, and they entreated to be in action. Perhaps that

[75]

is a sure sign that they are ready for discipleship. Once again, I have known students who no doubt felt much elevation because they had accomplished so arduous a task as a short period of novitiate, and their quiescence and profound calm have been disconcerting. They had attained a condition of peace and repose through mental concentration and there they remained, self'hypnotised, waiting the contact of a live soul to awaken them.

This is not the mark of a disciple. There are countless business men in the city who have a repose far deeper than this, and to some purpose. The trouble with these students is, that they have read the scripture literally instead of spiritually and have made an heroic attempt to kill out am' bition and cease from sensation before they had measured themselves against the force of the one or sounded the depths of the other. Their quies' cence and peace arose from absence of experience instead of from the knowledge and use of it. The crime of slaying urgent ambition and denying the insistent desire for sensation, the two most natural forces in a powerful organization, means one thing — the impoverishment, not the completion, of pep

[76]

sonality. It is an attempt, through perfect mis' understanding, to do first that which remains for conquest almost last, or at least a long way ahead on the path of discipleship. I fear no criticism I may incur on this theme. There are too many con' crete instances of the truth of it in living, breath' ing students who are the victims of wrong teaching or narrow self'instruction in the canons of oc' cultism relating to it. If they could realize the kind of force and faculty dominant ambition and vivid response to sensation throughout the worlds of form would breed and develop in them, they would willingly allow the greater task to await its proper time.

The case is somewhat different with the mature student in whose fife ambition has played a great part and response to sensation has been versatile. The distinction is vital and gives point to the above comments, perhaps alone justifies them. Two instances may be cited in explanation. A young student of many promising talents proceeds to the discipline of the path. It is not long before he encounters teaching enjoining the negative doc' trine of killing out; this, with the example of ad'

[77]

vanced students devoted entirely to the work of the path, inclines him to question the legitimate fostering of the very faculties which alone will make him a full man, capable of understanding and interpreting the experience of others when he reaches more critical stages of the path. These emphatic teachings and personal examples psy­chologize the young soul, and before the most precious plants in his personal fife have begun to live, he embraces the pernicious doctrine that they are but weeds which, if allowed to flourish, will stifle the very soul within him. Does the aspirant think that those gifts which he has cultivated with such labour in the far past, whose content forms the substratum of his mental life, the vibration of which pulsates silently in every vehicle, expectant of its appropriate Karmic contact— does he think that this life-blood will willingly renounce its force and passion and be slain at the threshold of occult study and discipline by a mere word? If he adopts a policy of wilful repression, let him gauge the psychological effect of this before he goes further, and the penalty that awaits him. If hestill doubts, let him stifle that wherein resides the

[78]

basic strength of his character and makes him a man, and press on to discipleship. Then he may expect one of two results, negative or positive, contingent upon the type of man he is. He will either take his place among those who are nothing more than disciples in name, simply because they are engaged upon the academical instruction of discipleship, but in occult action and service they are but negative in the measurement of their values; or, in marked contrast with this, the hidden fire in him, not dead but sleeping, will in good time assert itself with startling intensity, overturn all the bibles and occult maxims in creation, and carry him back to primal sources and the voice of God and nature within him, much to the conster­nation of himself and his fellows. That is the positive type.

I write in the name of the natural man; for it isinfinitely preferable to be a natural man swayedby high ambition and responding to the sensationof the whole living creation, than a puny, make-believe occultist, the soul in bondage to occultcreed and dogma, lacking virility and inspiration,and of less value to his fellowmen than an average

[79]

human being. The neophyte might reflect that the time will come when he will have to encounter strong individuals of force and character, known of men and valued by them for the extensive ex­perience they have acquired through great am­bition and emotional response, and for whom the hour has arrived for them to take knowledge of the path. How will he meet these men, having nothing of their power and passion in him? How can he hope to influence or lead them? They will have far more to teach him than he can hope to teach them. Deep calls to deep all through life. The disciple must have depth. He must be able to pass to any depth in others, without being sub­merged there. He must prepare himself for that by hard and prolonged struggle on the mental and emotional planes and a record in his soul of the most searching probation through contact and re­sponse in the utilization of self.

The second instance applies, in my judgment, almost exclusively to the man who has taken knowledge and is entering upon discipleship in the fullest sense. Here we encounter men who are highly mental and emotional. Their vehicles are

[80]

full and vibrant. Ambition has done its great work and still has vast strength and direction in them. In them its flame can be sensed as having all the brilliance of genius. And when to this is added the new accession of force resulting from occult dis­cipline, a condition of tension, through the oppos­ing factors of soul and personality, evolves out of all proportion to the unexercised ambition of the ordinary individual. The soul is recognized; its fire is felt; and the divine call descends upon the mental plane and challenges the fierce fire of supremacy there. But observe in this case the marked con­trast with the former one. Here, ambition and response have carried the man to the heights of mental achievement in the past. He is no weak­ling endeavouring to kill out, paradoxically, what does not exist, denying response to that which he has never felt. His supreme task is to transmute that which is mature, splendid and enthralling on the plane of mind, into the greater fire of the soul that can no longer wait for complete union. All here is power, force, ripe faculty, the limits of which have been reached and must now surrender its form to spiritual illumination.

[ 8 1 ]

In portraying briefly the two types of aspirants essaying the definite stage of discipleship, I think we arrive at the root of the vexed question of the acceptance by the Master for intimate personal work of the few instead of the many. It explains the rigourousness of the demands of the Masters pertaining to acceptance. If the material offered has not reached maturity and strength, has not versatility and responsivensss and fullness of ex- perience and understanding upon the several planes of life; if the incipient elements of the technique are not present as a result of the systematic culti- vation of every aspect of the constitution, through secret vigil and worldly warfare and the ceaseless wrestling of flesh and blood and Cosmic emotion in the world of form, of open-eyed encounter with high and low and the steady ascension of the whole life inwardly to the plane of the soul— that does not signify defeat, is not a cause for dis­couragement, provides no basis for honest criti­cism. It means that all these factors must be present in the subtle apparatus of the inner man before a Master can avail himself of its use; andthe aspirant himself will be the first to realise and

[82]

acknowledge this when the times comes to accept the responsibility and accomplish the work which falls to the lot of the tried and accepted disciple.

V V V

T H E D E M A N D S O F D ISCIPLESH IP— 2

SA ID that a man entering upon disciple'ship has to address his mind, with suchforce and skill as his novitiate has equippedhim, to the deepening and extension of

experience, and that this can be done only bydecisive action within the personality and without.This will carry him rapidly beyond the surfaceaspect of life. He will not have to deliberatelyforce this new angle of vision; it will transpire alltoo effectually if he is intent upon the work of hisvocation and with a determination to attain hisgoal. There is perhaps one thing more certain thananything else which will initiate this cycle of ex'perience for him, and that is the intensified thoughtof the life of the Master. Just so soon as his ideaof the Master, as the goal of his aspiration andeffort, becomes a living, warm reality in con'sciousness, magnetically drawing him upwards,then will eventuate crises in his personal experi'

[85]

ence which will either bring him to a firm standing for further advance, or throw him back upon the world to gain in common ways of life the necessary strength for it. I mean, that the man with an ample and well organized mental background, will be the one ready for advance and take it with resolution and courage. If the neophyte has taken the hint and narrowly observes genius and its ac­tion, he should not find it difficult to extend his conception and focus veneration and affection upon the super-genius, the Master. Imagination and intuition must be the means to this conception, for the obvious reason that he cannot see the Master face to face and witness his action in the world of men. But that is one of the tests for the intuition; he has to walk and live according to the magnitude of the conception he holds of the Master in consciousness; and how long that will have to suffice for him no one knows. But he has the assurance that there will come to exist be­tween the vivid concept he holds and the Master himself a bond of affinity and, in time, of subtle communication, all the more wonderful and potent because physical barriers are done away.

[86}

There is therefore a renewed dedication of him­self to the Master by the entrant upon disciple­ship, the result of which is that he passes within a circle which leaves ordinary humanity outside. There is no room for personal inflation in this fact. It does not imply superiority, but redirec­tion of life and purpose. Moreover, it is so fraught with doubts and misgivings that only the strength and ability derived from a serious novitiate will enable him to proceed. The personal history of aspirants places this beyond question. It is not a sombre theme, but a serious one; and that which has been written upon it shows conclusively that discipleship means keener living from every point of view, a new assessment of pleasure and pain, losses and gains in friendship, upheavals, silent or otherwise, in environment; in a word, an entire

change of front.

One of the earliest books I remember to have read on occultism, put this pointed question: Can you do without human sympathy? For a student on the threshold of life and the path that may sound ominous and forbidding. But the writer of it had trodden the path; the student had not. N ot

[87]

literally has one to do without human sympathy on the path of discipleship, but it is true that many sympathies he values and which have meant much to him, will be eliminated as he passes on within the inner circle. The position, from a strictly tech' nical point of view, is this: the simple process of daily concentration for mental control, the more interior process of alignment of personality and soul, gradually and imperceptibly weakens the dis' ciple’s interest in many hitherto strongly objective activities which have used or dissipated mental energy, have served their purpose and must be regarded as hindrances to progress. He will have to face with open eyes the fact that a changed attitude is creating breaches in his environment. This is often a great surprise. His progress in the science may be silent and hidden. He may have a fine tact which enables him to withhold views that he knows would jar and create opposi' tion in others associated with him. He may think, wanting experience, that the presence of deeper knowledge within, jealously guarded, not selfishly but foreseeing that its utterance would make his

path more difficult, that the consciousness of in' [88]

creasing force playing within the personality, can proceed unknown and unmolested from without so long as reticence holds the precincts. He may think so, but to little purpose. A disciple cannot hide his light, strive as he may. Discipleship is a condition which will utter itself though not a word be spoken; and it is that silent and searching vibration which stimulates for good or ill those among whom he moves. Questioning and cross' questioning, unexpected antagonism from those with whom he has long lived in the bonds of affection and friendship, keen criticism aimed with direct intent to unsettle the growing assurance in a larger life and break down the secret strength and serenity which the world cannot understand and consequently hates — what disciple has not faced the insidious attacks of friend and enemy alike when once he has declared with the voice of the soul his eternal allegiance to the Master? Well might it be asked whether he can do without hu' man sympathy! He will sometimes so crave for the right kind of sympathy that nothing but the consciousness that he is qualifying for a definite

mission in life will sustain him. There will be some[89]

near to him who would go with him to the bitter end if they could — but they cannot. He, too, would take them with him — but he cannot. He will feel the gulf of separation between, widening as surely as he lives onward, until his voice is no longer heard by those on the other side. It is a painful experience, but of incalculable value. He is to minister to those who stand inert, stricken with the grief of loss in one form or another, all along the way. He must understand that loss, not theoretically but actually; he must answer to it with mind and heart and have the power to speak the word and do the thing that shall change the very character of it in the eyes and heart of the afflicted one.

That is one of the least of things the disciple must be capable of. The force that rises within him as the result of the conscious upward breath­ing of the soul must flow from him as naturally and fervently as the breath that pulsates to his heart to do it and find avenues of expression created only by his own initiative. That is an inward experience of discipleship and symbolizes atechnique of action. Reading may be a preliminary

[90]

to it, far back in the past; but this I speak of transcends the written word; nay, the disciple in action is alien to books. The soul in its right mood, aligned with the Master, forgets books and teachers and believes in its own comment and ex­pression. It exults in projecting its fire into a neophyte and raising him in his own strength. He acts unquestioningly under the irresistible emphasis of his whole constitution. It is the genius of the spirit which is perfect vision.

The disciple must have this power in other lives. He must have a congeries of faculties, a peculiar knowledge, or a distinctive force, which lesser men need and will gratefully receive from him. This brings us to the central thought of our theme: that the occultist should stand out from the rank and file of men and be good for something. Academic occultists have been prolific for half a century; whereas the occult practitioner is so comparatively rare that he is regarded by those who have to deal with him as either a fanatic or a phenomenon, and among occultists themselves he often passes as an innovator or a revolutionary. Yet sensationalism is totally foreign to the man. That is the mark of

[ 9 1 ]

a small mind and never graces a disciple. There is nothing more beautiful, or so transcendent in na­ture, than the holy ghost inspiring a man and taking him he knows not whither. That is why he does not wait upon or regard the opinions of men, but speaks with the abandon of the Son of Man. If his development proceeds according to tradition, that is, in accordance with a discipline, searching and arduous, and is able during some cycle of life to assert himself wholly with understanding and power, influence in other lives will be a concomi­tant of that. Any wilful attempt to force himself to such an issue is useless. It is a divine obsession that transpires unbidden after certain frontiers have been passed; he knows not when or how until he has it. It is organized faculty and force, sure of itself, certain in its direction, largely un­conscious of its own influence, which is only real­ized in the reactions, often very unexpected, from near and far.

W hat is the nature of these reactions? Those from the disciple’s immediate environment have been hinted at, and I think they are usually more troublesome than assistant, because they arise

[92]

chiefly from criticism based upon misunderstand­ing from those who resent anything of the nature of a new departure in life, or anything that augers special or secret knowledge and influence. That is why experience of a sound and general character is essential, a fine and ready tact, to traverse the steady waters, a profound knowledge of human nature, its depth and possibilities, to swiftly use it against itself, and pass on undaunted though wounded. The disciple is a battle-scarred warrior. He is perpetually on the offensive, an attitude that commonly makes for trouble anywhere in life; but since he has entered upon an advance into unknown territory and has to hold every vantage point gained in the face of any odds, all the ele­ments of the true fighting spirit of the hard warrior must be strongly in evidence. It may be said that there are many types and not all have this quality of aggressive advancement. I grant it; but I write from my own experience. That alone avails for me, not the experience of others. Let the disciple try out his own measure of force and see what experi­ence will teach him. He may prefer to act on thedefensive only and thus save his own face and

[93]

reputation; if so, I really do not see how he will ever know the force of the Masters on those terms.

He may expect reactions from afar if he is declaring himself in some definite way in service. The work of a disciple along whatever line he may act, should have that peculiar quality of strength and impressiveness and usefulness which compels recognition. It should have a value which creates a demand for it. The resulting reactions therefore will usually be of a favourable character. They will come from those sources where his work meets with proper appreciation because it is rightly judged and assessed. That is some compensation indeed for the inimical reactions which come upon him near at hand. I do believe that the disciple who works through to this point will realize within himself, emanating from his own soul, or group, a quickening of life and consciousness which will gradually give him the ascendancy over all the pain and distress which the swift outworking of his Karma is bound to bring. If I dwell on a note of struggle with forces of the personality hard to be overcome, it is only because it is true in the disciple’s experience. Many times I have found

[94]

that the written word of this experience has an­swered to the letter the secret experience of the solitary aspirant’s soul. Life had either done its best to strip them of everything it gave them, ex­cept a living heart, or placed beyond their reach the things they were royally born for. Yet they were disciples, potential masters of the technique of form, noble and patient in defeat and depriva­tion. It was only their discipleship that held them

upright.Just so; but what is the inestimable result of

these rapidly increasing reactions in the personal life? Nothing less than a steady graduation in the technique of the path. There is one truth which, I think, may be taken for granted. The multiform experience which will accrue to the disciple from these reactions now taking place upon every plane of life, will have a special significance for him, since they have been initiated by an intenser living incident to his treading the path. That which be­falls him now will be reflectively related to his status of discipleship. N o longer is life a mean­ingless jumble of haphazard events which carry him hither and thither with no determinative sig-

[95]

nature upon them. It is a ritual of the soul in which the tones of Karma are seeking their ap' propriate setting, to which the personality must attentively listen and bring its own activities into worshipful response. Many of these tones will not be understood. Some will bring doubt and hesh tation because they are new to the sensitive ear; some will challenge, others will soothe, yet all are to be related to the basic harmony of the individual self, selhrevealing and sympathetically revealing the lives of his fellowmen. This will be so because all experience is to be viewed now from a higher level of vision and cannot be permitted to pass by with indifference uncoordinated.

Commenting upon the valuation of experience peculiar to discipleship, a critic once wrote: “ It is immaterial to our higher selves whether or not one is so many millions of years ahead of another, or merely thirty years. N or can one assume to be in advance of the other merely because he has under gone experiences which to him are profound. N o minority of individuals can constitute themselves authorities in experience.” When an occult student can seriously write that, one can only say that

[96]

he has a right to his opinion but it is not the opinion of a Rosicrucian. There are obviously de' grees of hearing and understanding occult truth. Some of us hear very partially and understand superficially. And the only hope for this critic of the valuation of experience is, that he gives a few more years to careful hearing of the truth in order to attain the experience of understanding it. One only need ask, if there were not a minority of im dividuals who constitute themselves authorities in occult experience, none other than the venerable Brotherhood of Masters, the inspiration and guide of every true occult student throughout the world and the hope of struggling humanity, why waste our time on a forlorn quest? The veriest tyro must realize that the Masters, whose profound experh ence in the laws and technique of occultism is the most arresting fact in human existence, com stitute precisely such a minority of individuals whose authoritative knowledge and wisdom we can no more reasonably discount than the common experience which enables this critic to earn his daily bread. Moreover, there is a lesser minorityof individuals well known throughout the world

[97]

as disciples of these Masters, who are undoubtedly authorities in the experience of discipleship and who are competent to speak from the knowledge gained from personal discipline under those M as­ters, whether a student is prepared to accept their word or not.

It is a curious trait in human nature that astudent will often accept the truth of experienceof one authority and will deny and reject thesame experience, presented in a different form,when proceeding from another. This is not truestudentship, much less the attitude of a disciple.In fact, it is just this quick recognition of truthunder any form that distinguishes the latter. Thereis only one remedy for this want of perception andpersonal bias, and that is the civilization of aresponsive hearing of occult truth from diverssources, apparently unrelated and contradictory,perhaps revolutionary, and a personal respect forthe sincere expositions of writers of various occultpersuasions, even if one cannot accept them. Thisattitude is imperative in a disciple. Let who willbelittle the relative value of his growing experiencein the laws of life, mind, and soul. If the Master

[98]

is all things to all men, and understands man be­cause he has all knowledge, and if the disciple must be as his Master, and if he cannot hope to be so unless he can show that temper of mind, the fruit of deep study and experience, which ensures pupilage, then the latter can only profit a full man who has reached the limits of the per­sonal self and waits for the Master’s guidance because he anticipates it.

V V V

T H E D E M A N D S O F D ISCIPLESH IP— 3

H E man who is technically known as a disciple of the Master, is one who has indubitable proof within himself of con­tact with the Cosmic or occult world of

force and is applying the inspirational results of this contact in everyday life in effective service. A man who lives in and for himself, whatever his academical occult knowledge may be, is totally foreign to this definition of a disciple. Disciples necessarily differ in calibre and in their range of personal activity; but the status of discipleship implies the skilful use of a scientific technique to specific ends in the service of the Master. There is no such condition as discipleship exercised either for self-aggrandizement, or from motives of per­sonal ambition, wherein such ambition has for its object prestige and advantage in the worldly sense. There are vast fields of demonstration in which every kind of ambition may be legitimately exer-

[101]

cised, and in which a man may allow himself full and wholesome expression of his faculties. But discipleship has its own rigorous laws which either negate these forms of ambition or convert them into adjuncts of power and efficiency to be used in the interest of the general evolution of con' sciousness. The long probation and crucial prepara' tion incident to discipleship would be lost labour and lacking in significance were the disciple to become, through his training, just one more ser' vant of ambition engaged in the competitive race of making a name and carving it upon the pillar of fame one niche higher than his fellows. That, in its place, is laudable and reacts for good, but discipleship has nothing in common with it.

The disciple seeks neither name nor prestige. He

is often an unconscious candidate for loss of name

and prestige as commonly understood, and finds

himself engaged in a single-handed combat with

prejudice and adverse influence which threaten the

very ground he stands on. Hence discipleship is

a consummation in development not devoutly to

be wished unless there is an irrestible bias in the[102]

nature toward it and the requirements necessary for it are fully calculated and resolved upon.

Discipleship, fundamentally speaking, is the ex' ercise of a structure of mental, psychic, and spip itual technique founded upon organized character and applied to specialized work under a Master. It is the basic character organization which de' mands so much attention from the aspirant during his novitiate. This foundation for the technique appeals to me as so important that, while I can well conceive a man being used as a disciple in a special sphere of labour for which he has a peculiar aptitude and therefore the available material can' not be overlooked by those who have decision in these matters, at the same time discipleship in its true form demands, in my estimation, an unusual strength and consistency of character for the ex' ecution of its office with complete independence and full responsibility in the work attached thereto.

It may be asked whether I am not taking upon myself too much in demanding, and assuming an authority unwarranted in determining, so much excellence to be indispensably necessary for dis' cipleship. I am not demanding or determining any'

[ 10 3]

thing absolutely or arbitrarily. I have observed discipleship closely; I have analyzed discipleship in the making in many; and I affirm the results of these observations. There may be exceptions, as above said, to meet special conditions. There have been such exceptions, where the disciple has been doubtful in points of character. There have been marked idiosyncracies, erratic departures, tempera­mental disturbances, manifest weaknesses from a normal observer’s point of view; nevertheless, a kind of technique has been in evidence of such value that all deficiencies of a general nature have proved of little hindrance, except in the disciple’s own personal adjustment in life, and the Master has used that technique with pronounced effect. I am not orthodox or rigid in assessing human character; quite the reverse. I am not happy in the presence of immorality, or mental aberration, or temperament defeating itself; but when I see a man achieving a fine work in conjunction with, or in spite of, either, my attention is fastened upon the work, not primarily on the man. Am I then demanding too much in expecting that an aspirantunder training for discipleship, in the course of

[ 1 0 4]

which he should be moulding and disciplining mind and temperament and organizing character, should measure up to a commendable level of mental and temperamental stability and force of character to guarantee his ultimately taking his place among those who have achieved this standard and share in their labour?

There is one thing we have to look to today, when occultism is overstepping its former bounds, so to speak, and compelling us to new applications of its technique, and that is, not to place orthodox and exclusive interpretations upon it. Narrow and exclusive interpretation and application of occult truth have given it bad names in the past. If an occultist hopes to be of any use in the present day he will need as much to orient himself as those he aims to teach. It has been intimated that there is a strong forward movement among thinkers in the world. N o intelligent student can doubt it. But exclusive interpretation is not their watchword. They are interrogating all and every­thing, even the occultist. W hat I appear to de­mand and determine regarding the standing and authority of a disciple is by no means in excess of

[ 1 0 5]

what they will demand of and determine about him. He will have to stand well in advance of those he proposes to assist, or he will be discounted. And rightly so. W e should not expect to gain the ear of men of large mental growth by reiterating homely platitudes, even occult ones, of which they have forgotten the phraseology but have acted upon all their lives. If my suggestions about dis­cipleship appear too exacting, it is not that I ex­pect others to accept and conform to them, but because I feel the necessity of sketching in bold outline the conception I entertain of discipleship. I could sketch a much softer outline, in half lights and uncertain tones, but, like many other things seen in half lights and of doubtful meaning, the outline would for me be a false one. The truth is, I have no soft and soothing outline for my con­ception of discipleship. On the contrary, I have no outline bold or forceful enough for the perfect depiction of it.

I do not say this to perplex or baffle. PerhapsI am obsessed with the truth of a great idea andwrite chiefly for those likewise obsessed and whocan bear to see its formidable contour overshadow-

[ 10 6]

ing their whole life, the conception of a technique of a thousand facets embracing the experience of many incarnations. A conception of this kind al­ways compels the soul to declare itself, whatever reception it may receive. Those who have it not are inclined to think there is a straining after effect when they see it, a passing beyond one’s depth and falling into exaggeration. Discerning only one aspect of truth they interpret a full and balanced conception as an abortion. “The history of Bee­thoven’s life,” says one of his biographers, “ is a record of struggles, a fraction of which would have exhausted and emptied an ordinary man.” If the reader will substitute the word disciple for Beethoven, he will approach my conception of the history of discipleship. The great man himself said: “ In my instrumental music, I always have the whole in my mind.” There you have my concep­tion of the objective for the disciple. The real leaders and teachers of men are all of that quality. Deep down in the soul they have a gigantic grasp of the technique of their art or science. The true disciple should be no exception to this first magni­tude of values. In him we look for the paramount

[ 1 0 7 ]

soul, perceptive at the centre of a radiating and compelling technique, observing with impartiality every avenue of knowledge; we look for an austep ity of thought which can withstand the onslaught of ignorance and evil entities, whether embodied or emanating with malicious intent from unseen sources; we look for an emotional responsiveness, which can answer to all that man can say and do in the worlds of form, without losing its moral integrity.

This is my interpretation of the canon of occult scripture. The precise terms of it may be objected to, but the fact is embodied in the text. “ To be able to stand, is to have confidence.’” Upon that confidence is based the Rosicrucian technique. It is equally true in the worldly and occult sense; but the occult significance is far removed from the worldly significance. Each has its acknowledged area of experience and force. Standing in confi' dence, worthy of the name, in the worldly sense, always implies character. Occult confidence is built on that; and I maintain that it cannot be built upon anything but that. W e cannot impart occult confidence unless we have that. The difference be'

[ 108]

tween occultism proper and pseudo-occultism is fundamentally just the difference between chap acter and the absence of it; because, true character has insight which will not permit itself to be made a fool of by false values. The men we are pro' posing to contact and inspire in these days will be men who have a respect for character, and unless we can impress them first with character in solid form they will pass by. Evolution during the past twenty'five years has compelled men to respect and desire character as never before. The European war helped to do this more effectually than anything else. It brought the true values of life to the fore and gave a death blow to insin' cerity and make-believe. I remember how moved I once was when a business man of fine culture, whose wife had been murdered abroad, asked how he could learn to go into the silence. That is a great moment in life and makes all the years of endeavour infinitely worth while. That is the kind of man we shall contact today and only the disciple can deal with him. Character he has and confi' dence in the worldly sense; the disciple must haveconfidence in the occult sense, and it must be built

[ 109 ]

upon character that compels the respect of others because he has the highest respect for it himself.

How marked, for instance, is this character in Beethoven. It is an arresting fact that many of his utterances are instinct with spiritual passion and have a most profound occult application. The critic will point to the want of balance and con­trol, the tragic emotional chaos in the man, the uncompromising, headlong driving against person­alities and through circumstances, leaving a mem­ory so keen and poignant of pathos and regret behind him. It was so; and in these respects the disciple cannot accept him as an exemplar. But he said this: “ The only good thing is a beautiful, good soul, which is recognized in everything, and in the presense of which there need be no con­cealment. One must be somebody if one wishes to appear so. The world is bound to recognize one; it is not always unjust. To me, however, that is a matter of no importance; for I have a higher

11aim. . . .

It may be asked why I introduce Beethoven here? I do so, not simply because he is one of the most eminent instances of sublime genius in the

{ n o ]

world of art, and was an unconscious disciple and working under Cosmic direction, but because he stands out as a classic example of that greatness of character upon which I am insisting. N or is this example in any way irrelevant; for the time must come when the disciple will feel a marvelous affinity with such men of character and vision. Indeed, I go so far as to submit that he will never fully understand or master occult technique until he can glance over the field of evolution at once and meet these characters, spirit to spirit, just where they stand, and participate in what they did, by virtue of a sympathetic alignment with the same rays of Cosmic forces which animated them. Occult exclusiveness is the one barrier to this access to the world soul. The force of this state­ment will have significance only for the disciple who is taking the higher stages of his vocation. The aspirant may well miss its value and bearing in his life. The disciple must be aware of and interpret understandingly the force of the Cosmic Hierarchy using with tremendous effect characters in the most diverse spheres of world evolution,

totally unrelated as they appear objectively to any[ i n ]

occult nomenclature. He must pass to and fro at will sympathetically between their world of thought and his own and feel the synchronous vibration that underlies both. He must not stand isolated within his own circle of light and leave outside as foreign and unrelated activities the art, music, and literature which resound throughout the universe. These are the Master’s own measured tones of expression and blend harmonically in the creative W ord. They are voices of the Divine to which he must listen and respond to and im­mensely love, until his life trembles with the full­ness of comprehension of the whole inspirational life of man.

The disciple creates his own temple of medita­tion, the invisible circle within which he retires at will to contact the master in the soul; but if those precincts become a concrete barrier which induces isolation and unresponsiveness to the myr­iad expressions of technique manifesting through the souls of the great army of master spirits, past and present, on the broad highway of evolution, who have lighted up the whole path to the presenthour with a splendour of character and genius so

[ 1 1 2 ]

noble and impressive, that we sometimes wonder whether they were indeed men; then, not only is the heresy of separateness, that cardinal sin that besets every aspirant, upon us, but we pass on blindly and oblivious of the greatest gift of the Masters to aspiring men. It is this isolation, which the aspirant has with pain created and in which he seeks to remain, shielded from the intrusion of all influences likely to disturb its serenity, yet whose mission it is to extend his sympathies and contacts in every possible direction, that becomes the barrier to further progress.

During the early years of novitiate the aspirant is prone to pride himself greatly upon the acquisi­tion of new knowledge, and the temptation to build and hold for himself is strong. I have ob­served this attitude in many a young Rosicrucian student. But it has been gratifying also to observe that as he passes on to higher grades of instruction a reaction to this attitude takes place. He finds himself inevitably drawn gradually by the strong vibration active within the sphere of his acquired knowledge to seek for some way in which to project his increasing force and influence for the

[ 1 1 3 ]

benefit of others. Not until this change of attitude manifests is it possible for him to think in terms of discipleship. The entire tendency of the life of discipleship today is toward group cooperation and effort. The Masters are cosmopolitan in thought, work, and influence. There are no barriers to their seership, comprehension and bountiful compassion. Let the disciple attune his mind to this large and dignified conception. tuThe divine give; they de­mand that you also shall give before you can be of their kin.”

V V V

T H E O R G A N IC ST R U C T U R E O F T H E T EC H N IQ U E

E H A V E considered some of the attitudes and discipline which enable the aspirant in good time to successfully pass the novi­tiate and take the first steps on the path

of discipleship. W e have to consider him now in his status of a disciple who, in the words of occult scripture, is able to stand, able to hear, able to see, able to speak. The experience gained during his novitiate enables him to stand firmly and with con­fidence in his own place, to hear the voice of the soul above the insistent and distracting voices of the personal life and to follow it, to see the mean­ing and purpose of his life in the light of the tech­nical unfoldment within him, and to speak with authority to those who seek. His mission, as a disciple, is to be an interpreter and exponent of the technique in the vocation of discipleship. He cannot regard that vocation too seriously, or be

[ 1 1 5 ]

imbued too deeply with the responsibility of it. The novitiate perfects his manhood; discipleship must unfold and demonstrate his super-manhood. Only upon the rock of mature manhood can the divine superstructure be safely built. Our concep­tion of manhood for the novitiate is that which has reference primarily to the mental life, wherein all the various faculties have been systematically disciplined and coordinated, are under the control of the will, and can be applied ably and effectively to general life activities. There is the sense of or­ganization and basic structure in the mental life which can assume the responsibilities of larger vision and knowledge, a groundwork of power and

ability which is subject to no possibility of losing

its integrity or proper management in the face of

emergencies, or liable to disruption from the on­

slaught of inimical influences from circumstances

or men. Those who have observed disciples in the

making and know them personally, can testify to

the presence in them of this basic structure of

mental power and ability; and those who know

what discipleship really means, know how indis- [ 1 1 6 ]

pensably necessary is this structure for the ade­quate fulfilment of the duties of its vocation.

Upon this foundation evolved during the novi­tiate the fourfold organism of the technique of the disciple comes into being; ability to stand, to hear, to see, to speak. Wisdom gives the ability to stand, reverence is born of hearing, caution comes of inward sight, integrity is necessary for speech. It will be proper to consider this somewhat in de­tail. It should be unnecessary to affirm that the disciple must have wisdom in order to stand in the occult sense. If there is one thing more than all others that compels the admiration and allegiance of the disciple to the Master, it is the sublime and inclusive knowledge of the latter and the mathe­matical exactitude with which he can apply any phase of his technique generally to any situation, and particularly in his tuition of a disciple. W e read much of the compassion of the Master, but it is not the sentimental emotion which some are apt to regard it. That compassion derives from his profound and searching knowledge of and in­sight into the mind and soul of humanity. Thepersonal element is not in evidence in the dealing

[ 1 1 7 ]

of the Master with his disciples. The rigorous laws of discipline in his training should teach us that. This is not said from under-estimation of the value of the affectional life, but to point the truth that the higher mind and spiritual will are the prime channels of expression and use in the life of the Master and disciple. Through those channels alone do we approach to the heart of things and gain true knowledge and insight into the sphere of causes. Contact with that subtle atmosphere will almost invariably unfold the flow­er of compassion in the heart. The disciple need only penetrate deeply enough into the life of the soul to feel all the compassion he is able to bear. The heart and passional life are active enough in the majority. The art of devotion is a compara­tively easy attainment. It has considerable atten­tion during the novitiate. But devotion alone will never comprehend and exercise the technique of discipleship.

Wisdom therefore must be the disciple’s mostpowerful aid at this point; and by wisdom I meanthe essential knowing derived from specializedstudy of the science of the soul. The disciple must

[ 1 1 8 }

\now, and be able to apply his knowledge. His mind must be replete with principles of technical adaptation to the infinite problems of develop­ment that will confront him and demand his aid during his life of service. He will never trouble to look back and observe how far he has come, or pride himself upon some little advancement beyond a previous condition of relative ignorance; but forever in his mind’s eye will stand the image of the master mind, with its perfect equipment and amazing resourcefulness, and the compassionate understanding and power of assistance which the Master has already vouchsafed to him. He will seek by every possible avenue to augment the principles of knowledge revealed to him, whereby his technique may be brought nearer to perfection.

During this steady unfoldment of the technique he will gain the ability to hear truth in the occult sense. Impersonality here is of first importance. This subject has been considered in a previous book, and is now approached from a different angle. The diversified knowledge imperative for the disciple must be obtained from authentic

sources, from traditional sources of acknowledged [ 119}

value and utility. N ot neglecting the discoveries of the moderns but testing their value in his own life, he will ground his knowledge upon the ap­proved theory and practice of the Rosicrucian and other proficients which have stood the test of time and are destined to enlighten all the realms of knowledge of the future. These expo­sitions of the science will prove the great trans­forming power in his life. Through constant and inward brooding they will become the very con­tent of his soul and awaken a deep reverence for all teaching that proceeds from reliable seership. I say reverence, because all the possibilities of his advance in the technique arise from the sincere and selfless assimilations of these transcripts of il­

lumined experience set down by those who have

trodden the way and write for his guidance. Rev­

erence for the universal applications of truth from

whatsoever sources of acknowledged authority is

a very special quality in the disciple; since in his

work with others he will certainly meet in time

with the most diverse applications of occult wis­

dom, and he must not be wanting in due reverence [120]

for their personal persuasions nor lack a proper responsiveness thereto.

Wisdom deeply assimilated, and reverence for it in all authorities and the manifold and singular ap­plications of it in others, will develop inward sight into human lives; and this breadth of knowledge and vision will confer caution in statement and advice. How easy it is to hinder or mar through incautious speech! It is worth an infinite amount of pains to develop that poise of mind and pa­tiently await the fruits of experience through study and reflection, so that the judgment we make and the advice we give shall be right and wise and ensure a grateful response because we have under­stood. A great responsibility rests upon the dis­ciple in this. Karmic association will bring many to him for guidance and assistance, and the long habit of mental assimilation, of personal assump­tion or translation of personality, must enable him to pass selflessly into another life and understand its limitations. The technique unfolds this power, and it must be used with complete disinterested­ness. The attitude of the disciple to others mustbe: W hat is this soul saying to me, and how must

[ 121 ]

I respond for its enlightenment? It is not simply what the disciple thinks of the specific problem from his own point of view; it is what it means to another and from what angle of vision it can wisely be approached and resolved, that has to be taken into consideration before advice is offered. The disciple may exercise incaution by applying a too advanced phase of his technique to a problem for its solution, a grade of force quite beyond the possibility of acceptance, as surely as he might speak incautiously through the want of adequate personal detachment and selflessness. The due and attentive exercise of these latter qualities will in­evitably sharpen the sense of inward sight into the soul life and lead in time to an instantaneous and intuitive comprehension of the status of an­other soul and its immediate need. I consider this one of the highest and most inspiring aspects of the technique of the disciple.

The power of right speech demands integrityin the disciple. I define integrity of speech hereas an entire correspondence with the conceptsof occult truth as intuitionally apprehended. Thedisciple has the vision of and access to the truth

[ 122]

of things, and from thence arises the power of speech for the helping of others. However much he may have dissembled before he entered the path, perhaps in legitimate self-interest and to avoid criticism, the technique of the disciple will compel the truth of fife to shine through him. He must declare the truth that is in him, forgetful of or indifferent to the opinions of others. It is the very condition of discipleship that he has attained a new altitude, and what he sees from that altitude must be declared, if only for the few who need and will profit of it. This point scarcely needs to be enlarged upon, for the technique, in its true form, is of that force and courage that it cannot postpone itself. Rash or untimely speech is for­eign to it, but the quest evoked by it vibrates across the space with dynamic purpose. It laughs at enemies and criticism and rejoices in the possi­bilities of its own glorious service. It is satisfied if it can coin the true word for the M aster’s thought and hallow the ether with it.

Wisdom to stand in confidence, reverence forthe truth of the science, caution in the expositionof it, and integrity in what is uttered: this is the

[ 123]

basis of the four-fold organism of the disciple’s technique. The experience which will accrue to the disciple who acts conscientiously upon these sound and well-tried principles of his vocation will enable him to exercise that tolerance and gravity which are so becoming and attractive when faced with points of difference in the presentations of truth issuing from many sources of authority. If he takes the Rosicrucian path I do not think there will be much fear of delinquency in this respect, because, for one thing, he will be con­versant with the history of the great characters of the past, philosophers and scientists, schoolmen and reformers, all followers and exponents of the Divine Arcana, but approaching the secret science from the most various standpoints, many of them so markedly original and inspired and professedly Rosicrucian in character and belief, that he will receive the strongest incentive to take an universal and inclusive view of all tendencies in modern thought, scholarship and technique towards the evolution of consciousness. This breadth of vision is characteristic of the disciple, and it especially

marks him in these days when the clash of sects[ 1 2 4 ]

and philosophies and religions is still holding so many back from a Cosmic understanding and en­lightenment. N or is the occult field any exception to intolerance and light-mindedness in this respect. Occult sects fight as bitterly for their little plat­forms of truth as the orthodox Christian bodies. The disciple must stand above this. He must be able to hear all, understand all, and speak to all. He must learn to be silent in the presence of the thinking mind struggling with the expression of its inspired gift of Cosmic truth. He cannot afford to ignore the voices of the messengers. They will help him to understand himself. There are none too many of them. And his aim must be to stand with them upon equal terms of knowledge and power.

The attitude of patient hearing and compre­hension of many presentations of master minds firmly established, the disciple will develop in his vocation the ability to approach the problems of the path from a wide and understanding basis of knowledge. He will thus avoid the pathetic and discouraging attitude of those teachers who canonly speak to an aspirant from their own restricted

[ H5]

platform of particular belief; while he approaches them very often from a far more catholic concep­tion of truth than their own. The disciple will not assume to know what he does not in order to hold a reputation for knowledge beyond his scope; but it is expected that he will, through conscientious and prolonged personal effort, and having taken the full term of the novitiate, not be ignorant of any general problem of development that is likely to be presented to him. He will find that he will be able to handle far greater work and responsibilities connected with the path than he at first imagined possible. The reason for this arises from a fact of the technique itself. For the technique is not of a fixed and stable measure, so to speak; it has a native resilience and adaptability and discloses re­serves of knowledge and force, under pressure of need, of unexpected capacity. In the case of fac­ulties operating entirely upon the mental plane, we know, as a rule, that present extent and possi­bility of their use; we know approximately what we can and cannot do with them. This kind of limitation does not apply to the exercise of the

technique. And I conceive this is so because it[ 1 2 6 ]

does not originate upon the mental plane, but fundamentally and directly in the world of occult force. It derives from a sphere of unlimited possi­bilities; and a disciple who has developed and is using the technique understandingly as above out­lined, is not subjected to more or less arbitrary limits in the exercise of it as in the case of the purely mental faculties within the spheres of sci­ence, art, or learning. Under pressure of need or emergency for service, its vibration may be so extended and augmented, may become so inspired and potent, that he will be truly humbled by the Cosmic response that has been accorded to him; and, having once responded to this exceptional measure, beyond anything he hitherto considered possible to him, the incentive will be firm to de­liberately work towards making this extension a normal feature of the technique. N or is their any limit to such extensions. Indeed, it is such exten­sions of personal vibrations which impart unique­ness to the disciple’s experience and render it so valuable to others. It is not that an extension in energy simply confers ability to meet the emer­

gency. It is a true unfoldment into a higher grade[ 1 2 7 ]

of sensitivity to world vibration on every hand. It is an advancement in individual knowing and insight over a large field in world contact. It is an advance in world telepathy; by which I mean, that the disciple ensures for himself a mental radio sensitiveness to the thought and purpose of his compeers throughout the world. He will become conscious of attunement with other disciples work­ing at his own level; their thought and force will amalgamate with his own; he will become un­consciously at one with deeper strata of intelli­gence and illumination upon which he will draw in his work; he will find himself assimilating uncon­

sciously the inner values of the technique used by

all disciples everywhere. Is there not more than a

hint in this conception of the rapidity and facility

with which the technique grows spontaneously,

augments itself, and becomes so amazingly inclu­

sive of knowledge and projective of influence,

when once it has reached a certain momentum in

the disciple’s life? It is a divine and classic adven­

ture, only possible to a great soul able to subjugate

all lesser aims and pledged to the Master life.f 128]

Within the radius of this attained measure of technical sensitivity and responsiveness, extending, be it noted, from the first step of the novitiate up to the present point of organic and instrumental equipment, lies a vast field of possible service for the disciple in the lives of aspirants attracted to him by Karmic affiliation and in whose lives he is destined to play a part. In this work he will have an opportunity to try himself out in the most intricate ways in correct diagnosis of individual need. Occult diagnosis is comparable on the mental and spiritual planes to that of the physician on the physical, and should be no less exacting. Now, it is a special feature of the technique when well developed that it has an immediate perception of the mood or truth behind the written or spoken word. This insight is so immediate and penetrating, that I have known a technician often to respond not so directly to what has been spoken or written, but to the facts unintentionally withheld or with intent concealed and unfold the seeker’s problem with minuteness and accuracy, much to the sur­prise of the latter. Unusual, if not uncanny, as it

may appear to the seeker, the technician is to[ 1 2 9 ]

expect this feature of his science to become very pronounced as he carries out his diagnoses pa­tiently and untiringly on a wide scale, and so enters into the very soul sphere of those contacted. The diagnosis characteristic of the technique is not the result of logical procedure; it is not a calcu­lated process of mental ratiocination. Ratiocination upon the subtle elements of human character and conduct, their singularities and combinations, agreements and conflicts, their involutions and evolutions observable in many individual types, may be a thoroughly digested subconscious con­tent in the disciple, resulting from severe mental training in the past; in fact, all this is a part of this preliminary technical equipment; but the diagnostic feature of the technique in its pure form is nothing less than a fine spiritual sagacity which discerns the recurring complications in students" lives and denotes the corresponding solutions to them, based upon successive evidences of them, clear and luminous, in his own soul memory.

The technique of the disciple gives him direct access to this repertoire of experienced knowledge or reminiscence, and upon it he draws at will with

r n o]

confidence and certainty in the work of ministry in his vocation. To be able to do this is compensa­tion for all the pains of discipline and growth that lie behind him. These are now forgotten in the calm consciousness of dispensing knowledge and healing to those still in the throes of the novitiate, or lost for a while in the darkness of the obscure night, crying for a word of wise assurance that the quest is not a hopeless one, and needing the sure touch of an understanding guidance to pilot them over the threshold into larger life. A ll this and more is within the scope of the early stages of the technique: knowledge and influence are within the disciple’s grasp, but never to make an exhibi­tion of, or to strike a note of superiority, or to mark the distance between himself and the hum­blest aspirant, or for the imposition of personal opinion rather than timely and inspiring sugges­tion. These are perilous negatives absolutely for­bidden in discipleship. It is not suggested that the disciple’s service to others should consist of a tame and bloodless platitudinism. The technique is in the highest sense positive, virile and masterful. It

is the developed diagnostic element in it that tem-[ 131 ]

pers and adjusts the whole technical adaptation to the appropriate measure of expression and exer­cise. It enables him to stand aside, to become self­less in the presence of another’s difficulty, that the conditions of it brought to him may appear in their right setting and character, unobstructed by the personal opinion of the disciple about them. It is not what he thinks about the matter from his point of evolution, but what it means in the fife and circumstances of the one who presents it to him. That is a fine point, and the disciple is on trial as to how he deals with it. He is to lead and suggest, enlighten and inspire, penetrate the hidden associations and ramifications of a diffi­culty, reveal a way of ascension over it; so much so that he himself, or any personal predilection, scarcely appears, but only the revealing of a new way, a larger thought, a subtle flavour of that blessed influence entrusted to him by the Master for self-effacing dispensation.

V V V

T H E D ISCIPLE IN A C T IO N

H E aspirant will have taken many im­portant steps on the path from his en­trance upon the novitiate to the point of conscious discipleship sketched in the

preceding chapter. It is a period requiring the hard study and concentrated effort of many years. I may incur the charge of repetition in dwelling again upon this aspect of the theme. It will bear repetition. The hypothetical aspirant I have taken with me through these pages may be on the verge of true discipleship, and this serious communion between us may precipitate and bring into action the mature faculty of past lives hitherto unreal­ized. Let him focus all his powers of mind and soul upon the task, confronting himself with steady circumspection, and resolved upon a new cycle of unfoldment. It is a task only for those who have counted the cost, are of a settled and determined temperament, fearless in investigation,

[ 1 3 3 ]

and of that quality of spirit which can wrestle with difficulty and meet a challenge. I sound the note of the conquering will in the domain of mind and spirit: not the iron will, but the will of steel, keen and bright in its native lustre, driving straight as an arrow to its appointed goal. I must again quote the noble Beethoven: he is so magnificently impregnated with the supreme spirit of conquest. “Power,” he wrote, “ is the morality of men who stand out from the rest, and it is also mine.” N ot the power of a tyrant, but the conscious strength of a soul inspired by the Spirit of God. It is that power which, in the words of the Rosicrucian ritual, is offered to the true initiate:— “ God alone will be your inspiration; the philosophers will be your equals. The highest intelligence will be am­bitious to obey your desires; the demons will not dare to approach the place where you are; your voice will make them tremble in the depths of the abyss.” I commend this ideal religiously to the disciple.

The disciple in his ministry will soon be able to testify to the endless perplexing problems and sufferings in human lives, to which there is neither

[ 1 3 4 ]

answer nor hope of healing in the outside world. They repeat themselves daily in almost monoton­ous succession, and will continue to exercise the same cruel tyranny and cast the same cloud of hopelessness upon the soul in travail unless the Karma of knowledge replaces that of ignorance or worldliness. Let no aspirant think that, in qualify­ing for discipleship and rising to the larger con­ception and issues of life, these things will no longer trouble him. N ot so: discipleship will make him aware in a keener sense than ever before of the cross laid upon humanity. He, no matter what his growth and knowledge, cannot escape it. He will understand life and know how to adjust to and live it, scientifically and wisely, and he will reap the spiritual joy of his labour; but he can never rest in peace and inaction; for the voices of the world soul will strike upon his sensitive ear with poignancy a hundred-fold greater than before his novitiate, and he will be constrained by the compassion active in his soul to throw himself earnestly into the company of those who have answered his petition only that he shall partake of

their holy service. For to deliberately work[ 1 3 5 ]

through the novitiate and on to the path of dis­cipleship, with the consequent unfolding of the organism of the technique within the natural man, is nothing less than projecting into the M aster’s world an ever-sounding, voiceless petition to five after the laws and principles of that world. And having attained to such a commendable exercise of the technique as has been described is the surest proof he can have that his petition has been heard and answered.

“ When the disciple is ready to learn, then he is accepted, acknowledged, recognized. It must be so; for he has lit his lamp, and it cannot be hidden.” That is precisely where the disciple now stands. His present technical organism is the lamp he has lighted through the bold adventure of his dynamic will. Its radiance shines in the M aster’s presence and is reflected back as a beam of knowledge to enlighten the darkness of the world. That is the simple issue to which all the storied past has led him. He has kindled the light of the soul, and his mission is to kindle the light in other souls. His contact with the Master is sure: it exists, unknown to the world, in the deeps of his wholly aspiring

[ 1 3 6 ]

and dedicated life. His aura is tense and radiant with the force and luminosity of the fire of this contact. There can be no failure, no diminution of that silent bond of fellowship, only expansion and augmentation of the vital elements in it, so long as the disciple remains true to the sacred ritual inscribed by it in his members. It will grow as the flower grows, but not to fade. Its many petalled radiance will increase in glory with every access of influence directed upon him from the in­ner plane of ascension to strengthen his life of service.

One of the many paradoxes in the disciple’s life, which experience will have brought home strongly to him, is, that although his development must perforce acquaint him in the deepest sense with the fact of loneliness, yet he cannot work in isolation. His unfolding technique takes him fur­ther and further from the common worldly inter­ests of men, in so far as personal participation in them is concerned; but this inevitable retreat means a corresponding advance towards coopera­tive interest and action with those of his own plane of knowledge and purpose. The need of this

[ 1 3 7 ]

cooperation will be forced upon him by his grow­ing experience, and if he is fully awake to the possibilities of it he will not hesitate to accept it. This is mentioned because there are some who have been compelled by the circumstances of their development to work so utterly alone, with no sympathy or understanding from others in their environment, that on reaching at length certain objectives they have felt that the alliance of their forces with others was a matter of more or less in­difference. I have the greatest sympathy for one whose circumstances of development have induced that attitude of mind. T o him who can say, “ I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the

people there was none with me” ; my heart speaks

in perfect brotherhood. It is a condition of the

path; and the solitary trial of the obscure night

may just as likely as not cause him to forget that

brotherhood exists. But that trial passed, he will

discern emerging from the shadows others who

have passed and understand and await his coop­

eration for momentous work. He must not fail

that call, but give his “ aid to the few strong hands[ 1 3 8 ]

that hold back the powers of darkness from ob­taining complete victory.”

But is there need to sound this word of caution? It seems to me that the kind of aspirant I have been communing with in these pages will not need it. To him, as to me, the path and the responsi­bilities and duties of it are very life, and only death can put a temporary period to the assumption of those responsibilities and the fulfilment of those duties. He will be surprised, when the technique comes to work smoothly within him and brings a deeper insight into souls, and enables him to in­terpret the lives of those fellow disciples who need his cooperation, he will be surprised beyond meas­ure to note how similar to their own has been the long day of his trial and discipline. This is the foundation of the co-nature existing between them. They have all stood alone, aspired alone, fought the secret battle alone, until the light of the soul shone in the M aster’s presence and, reflected back into the world, attracted the vigilant eyes of those other disciples, working each in his appointed place. He will realize that, throughout all the searching discipline of discipleship he has really

[ 1 3 9 ]

been allied with the brethren of the spirit in the four quarters of the earth; that he has been but one of an invisible fraternity of aspiring souls, selfless as himself, chanting the same litany, in- toning the same sacred word, infused with the same vibration of revealing fire, and knowing every soul that passes within the precincts of the temple of their consecrated service. This is not fantasy: it is a fact of the ascent of consciousness. And the successive dawnings within him of what is transpiring upon spiral after spiral of the as- cent is one of the climaxes of experience. The awareness of this fact of the simultaneous effort of many in comparative individual isolation to a common level of spiritual co-partnership, brings to the disciple a new accession of strength, corn-' age and purpose. N o matter in what condition of loneliness he may live and work, the illusion of isolation no longer overshadows him. He will now be in a position to see how many of the things which have held him back, and forced him on, have been more of the nature of illusion than fact.

It was said that the laws and principles of the technique which the disciple is learning to comply

C140]

with and use, emanate from perfected technicians who function in the superconscious realm, and that these technicians compose various sections or groups of the Great White Lodge. Now anyone who observes closely the trend of modem evolu­tionary thought cannot fail to perceive the very conspicuous fact that this advancing thought is expressing itself more and more noticeably and powerfully in cooperative and group form. In every direction is to be seen the amalgamation of individuals, the consolidating of forces, the con­centration of knowledge through organised chan­nels for swifter and more potent results, all which has ultimately in view a larger and more expressive life for the individual unit— but not for him alone. I do not refer to the masses of average human be­ings, who care for nothing beyond the day and seek the greatest pleasure in it. I refer to those in whom the mind is awakened, those who feel deep­ly the problems and responsibilities of existence and are sensing somewhat of the purpose of it. They are to be found within the occult field and outside of it, of all kinds of belief and profession.

It is towards these thinking, progressive men and[ 1 4 1 ]

women that the disciple gravitates in his work. They are really seeking each other. The disciple knows this: the others do not; and it is only a matter of time when the attractive force of syn­chronous vibration will unite them in work and service. But this can only transpire, or it will transpire much sooner than otherwise it would, through the synchronous and high-powered vibra­tion of disciples working in cooperation. I write from personal experience of this all-important truth; but confirmation of it may be found in many of the writings of the initiates. “ Let us establish,” it is written, “ our relations towards Rosicrucians, masons and other organizations, where the general good is approached. Many Mahatmas have participated in them. And when we remember the altruistic principles of the foun­dation of these organizations, we must not deny them. When it concerns sincere motives then all workers for the general good must unite. Especial­ly when the spirit is developed and the conscious­ness does not sleep.” This is a direct call and peti­tion to the technicians of the schools of occultism

for the amalgamation of forces, the sharing of[ 1 4 2 ]

knowledge and experience, the surmounting of personal inclinations and mental and emotional differences, and the united concentration and pro­jection of esoteric force, and every ability which the unfolding technique has awakened into activ­ity, into appropriate channels of expression that will reach and invite the progressive mind of the age. Recondite and ideal as this may appear at the first glance, there is nothing so eminently prac­tical and sure of response as the united force of discipleship. Subjective as it is in its technique and unusual methods of application, amalgamated and enlightened esoteric force possesses an ir- restible potency and is responsible, under the direc­tion of Masters, for the masterly advancement of the thinking mind to the conception of a new life in this exceptional cycle.

That is one aspect of the need of cooperative work by the disciple. It indicates a special duty he has towards the progressive thinkers of the world who are not actually within but are approaching the occult field of thought. But he will observe that if these thinkers are to be inclined to an ac­ceptance of occult thought and experimentation,

[ 1 4 3 ]

they must be impressed with the weight of evi­dence of truth and the unimpeachable technique of those who proclaim this thought and by the ap­peal of the experimental work done by them. The disciple working alone will not accomplish this. He will undoubtedly be powerful in his own place and within a very limited sphere; but the impres­sion of evidence needed of the truth declared and demonstration achieved, must emanate from the strong and irresistible cooperative forces of dis­cipleship. The progressive mind of today has a range of knowledge and a personal prestige, and in many directions is of that self-centered opinion- ativeness and self-sufficiency along its own lines, that it is not very susceptible of change or open to the appeal of isolated evidence. It has that settled personal persuasion which can only be in­fluenced through the amalgamated knowledge and forces emanating from the sphere of cooperative discipleship. If we look back to the early cycles of the Rosicrucian activities, we find this coopera­tive idea strongly in evidence. The initiates of the various periods worked in the closest secret con­tact in all parts of the world. And whatever the

[ 1 4 4 ]

particular work each did for humanity, it bore the mark, the strength and character, the immortal seal, of the united influence of the fraternity to which he belonged. Some of them laboured under the most difficult conditions and in circumstances of imminent peril: they were in danger of being apprehended by the authorities of church and state as charlatans and a menace to society. And today remnants of this peril survive, not indeed from church or state, but from some sections of society which appear to be veritable reincarnations of the spirit which actuated those authorities in the past times. And then, as now, to these evil tendencies, ever vigilant to thwart the progress of man towards spiritual freedom, the initiates would have succumbed had they not been closely knit with their compeers in many places, and, support­ed and inspired by psychic contact and conversa­tion in the spiritual domain, lived and worked, as it were, invisibly, and passed their noble treasures of thought into the stream of general learning, to be seized upon and honourably used by the few progressive thinkers of the time; but in the main hidden, even in the open light of day, for those

[ 145}

who should come after them. History repeats it" self here, as elsewhere; but in each succeeding period a new spiral is achieved, and these forces of evil, so far as physical plane encroachments are concerned, are sensibly diminished.

The group activities to cultural ends of all kinds prevalent around him should be a powerful visible inducement to the disciple in this cycle to heed the call to cooperative effort. But a greater induce" ment, and of paramount importance to him, is the fact of the corporate character of all sections of the Brotherhood of Masters to which he has given his allegiance. There is no ancient tradition so jealously guarded as that which comprises the laws and principles, the rules and procedures, of the one Great Lodge. The disciple should honour that tradition. It has an imposing gravity and wisdom, because it derives from those elders of the ages who sustain in collective understanding and with unsearchable responsibility the acknowledge of human evolution. A s above, so below. The Mas" ters will have the corporate idea become a work" ing factor in the disciple’s life if he would know that tradition as a living organism of light, inspira'

[ 1 4 6 ]

tion and power. The Masters are not interested primarily in his personal development for himself alone, but in centres of esoteric force consisting of efficient units working in harmonious combination and alignment. Such centres of skilled occult tech" nicians have been the secret of accomplishment in all the fraternities of occultism of the past. This law of corporate demonstration holds good on the high plane of hierarchical activity, on the inter" planes of Masters and initiates, and among dis" ciples engaged in physical plane action. It is through this close interrelationship and amalgama" tion of centres of esoteric force that the Brother" hood of Masters wields its great influence and af" fords the disciple who is ready an unique oppor" tunity of qualifying for higher sendee.

V V V

T H E IN Q U ISIT IO N O F FIR E

HE stages of the path and the requirements for discipleship have I een set out again and again in the text books. There is a good deal of similarity between them; so

much so, that they appear to be mainly paraphrases one of another. The requirements usually resolve themselves into the well known cardinal qualifica­tions of a mental and moral character; and while these qualifications are undoubtedly necessary and must be regarded as foundational principles in dis­cipleship, they nevertheless impress one as a formal structure which lacks the living content of in­dividual experience. W hy is this? Not, presum­ably, because the compilers of textbooks on dis­cipleship are without experience of it, unless they choose to adopt the role of copyists. If they write from knowledge they must have experience of the technical training involved in discipleship. Per­haps some of them felt that this experience was

[ 1 4 9 ]

not suitable for publication. This is understand­able, because the actual experience precipitated while under training is of so searching and inti­mate a character, that there may be a disinclina­tion to impart it, or no feeling of necessity to do so, or indeed, the very nature of the experience, subtle in texture and more like fleeting reminis­cence than the luminous conceptions of objective consciousness, may elude the conscious grasp of thought and refuse embodiment in formal langu­age.

In my opinion, the embodiment of this peculiar­ly intimate, individual experience in formal langu­age is of the highest value to the neophyte. It will enable him to interpret the unfolding of his own soul life and realize that the technique is a living and very personal matter. This particular value I have had in mind from first to last in these books on the technique. I have written without reserve and from deep conviction, what this development means to me. I have not sought to depreciate the value of genuine textbooks, or the views of others. I have been constrained to unfold my own mental and spiritual conception of the truth of this devel-

[ 1 5 0 ]

opment as experienced in my own life. And I have found, through its reactions upon others, that this is a true way of service and one which is much needed and appreciated.

N o one more values traditional teaching and method than I do. There is nothing we need to be so much reminded of, if we are ever in danger of forgetting it, in the present day, when innova­tions of every description crowd upon us, threat­ening the dignity and stability of life and action, and inviting us to compete in the questionable race for this and that dubious material conquest, which will no more satisfy the soul than the swinish life of the prodigal son. This is not a digression, for the aspirant will need to make discrimination in this respect, or the temptation to divert his ener­gies to a quest unworthy of his original purpose may prove too strong for him and valuable time will be wasted. The important thing is, that tradi­tion shall not blind him to the necessities of the hour. Bacon said: “ W ith regard to authority, it is the greatest weakness to attribute infinite credit to particular authors, and to refuse his own pre­rogative to time, the author of all authors, and,

[ i n ]

therefore, of all authority. For truth is rightly esteemed the daughter of time, not of authority. It is not wonderful, therefore, if the bonds of antiquity, authority, and unanimity, have so en­chained the power of man, that he is unable, as if bewitched, to become familiar with things them­selves.” The day is yet remote when the authorita­tive word of Bacon will lose its value. True to the Rosicrucian tradition, he has written for all time; and these words of his are apt to my theme. The textbooks on discipleship have given us the skele­ton outline of the necessary qualifications for it: the skeleton requires the vital body of living ex­perience of the disciple to render it of utility to the aspirant.

“ The real order of experience,” says Bacon, “ be­gins by setting up a light, and then shows the road by it, commencing with a regulated and digested, not a misplaced and vague course of experiment, and thence deducing axioms, and from those axioms new experiments.” “ For as in ordinary life every person’s disposition, and the concealed feelings of the mind and passions are most drawn out when they are disturbed— so the secrets of

[ 1 5 2 ]

nature betray themselves more readily when tor­mented by art than when left to their own course.” These acute aphorisms afford a basis for my concluding remarks on the disciple and his technique.

W e respect traditional occult teaching and method because they have stood the test of time. There is not a working disciple who is not indebt­ed to them. He can no more deny their influence in his development and work than the author can repudiate the influence of literary tradition upon the language in which he creates. Tradition has this of good in it, that it comes to the student’s hand with the impress of countless master minds upon it since the time of its original and spontan­eous birth. These minds have assimilated it, re­taining yet adapting it, to the various cycles in which they lived and taught. It has never been lost sight of, no matter what the particular adapta­tion of it in any cycle has been, but has continued to be a basis of intellectual security, a corrector of personal aberration, a guide for honest en­deavour, and the very hope and guarantee of future discovery. It has taught us the amenities

1 1 » ]

of intellectual conduct and opened the book of universal knowledge for all succeeding generations. It is the initial means by which the student gathers to himself a body of attested truth about his science. W ere the tradition an isolated and soli" tary one it would not have this unassailable authority and importance, or merit the reverence of generations of thinkers. But in occultism there is a multiplication of traditions converging in one body of accepted doctrine, and the reason why the disciple must respect it is because the imprimatur of the Great Brotherhood is upon it.

But the cycles of the present differ from those of the past in this respect: the unparalleled pro" gress of the thinking mind compels the vision of new processes and unexpected adaptations of the knowledge transmitted to us. W e stand today be" fore the advent of a new instauration, of far great" er importance, to us, than that majestic instaura" tion magisterially proclaimed by Bacon. The broad bases of knowledge and method laid down by him remain a luminous guide in the present cycle in the unveiling of the heart of things. If ever man had a perfected form of technique, Bacon had it.

I M ]

“ The real order of experience begins by setting up a light.'” Note the application of this axiom: the disciple must kindle his own light and unfold by means of it his own order of experience, which alone is a real guide for him; and that light will show him the way, commencing with a regulated and digested groundwork of laws and principles of occult tradition, thence to a deduction of axioms of personal development, thence to an ap" plication of experiments for the demonstration thereof.

Bacon, writing from profound knowledge of the human constitution and its behaviour, says that a person’s disposition and the concealed feelings and passions of the mind are truly revealed under the pressure of unusual conditions. Now the tech" nique constitutes a recurring initiation into unusual conditions of mind. The training of the disciple sets up a powerful interaction between the per" sonality and the soul, and when alignment is established the mind and brain are recipient of an increasing influx of the force of the soul. The mind receives new accessions of knowledge from the soul, the brain areas are stimulated by the

r i yy ]

heightening vibration to respond thereto, and the field of cognition is sensibly enlarged. This process creates that disturbance referred to by Bacon. The emotional life is accentuated, the mental life is awakened to unexpected strength and venture, and both in conjunction militate at times against the soul which has brought them to trial. And it is no inconsiderable part of the technical training of the disciple to make this alignment a stable and wholly praiseworthy one in the conduct of life, and to subdue and overcome those unavoidable tendencies incident to the process which constitute a veritable inner battle between the hitherto domi­nant personal self and the spiritual man who is rising in the ascendant.

This unveiling of the real nature of the disciple is of surpassing importance and comprises a major portion of his training. The purpose of it is summed up in the words of the Master: “ It is not enough to know thoroughly what a pupil is cap­able of doing or not doing at the time and under the circumstances during the period of probation. W e have to know of what he may become capableunder different and every kind of opportunities.”

[ 1 5 6 ]

How is this to be discerned? By the way in which a disciple conducts himself in relationship with other disciples to whom he is Karmically attached in group work, by his motive, speech and action in relationship with those who pass within his sphere of occult service, and by the selfish or im­personal use he makes of the knowledge and force automatically passing within his control as a con­sequence of his fully conscious dedication of him­self to the Masters. It will be obvious that a dis­ciple working in comparative isolation cannot be put fully upon trial in this way. He can only be brought to know himself through a most searching inquisition of his emotional and mental life; and this can only take place within a sphere of active occult service in which this life is urged to ex­pression in ordinary and exceptional circumstances of relationship with and adjustment to others. The Master’s word is very plain on this point: “ of what he may become capable under different and every kind of opportunities.” The aspirant may think he knows full well what he is or will be capable of when opportunities present themselves: but no trust is so perilous as new force in new

[ 157 ]

hands. When once the door to the M aster’s world is opened, to but a slight degree, influx of force to the personality is the consequence; and this force can destroy as easily as it can build up. It can demoralise the disciple as easily as it can add to his human nature another Christ-like quality. It is impersonal in action and descends upon him from within, in response to his reiterated petition, to search and test the strength and weakness of his constitution, indifferent whether he stand or fall. The issue rests absolutely with the disciple. If he has chastened himself aforetime in mind and heart, cultured his emotions, developed his ana­lytical faculties, sharpened his intuition to a point of instant seizure of implicated motive and sug­gestion, the tension of a fiery force released in his economy, accentuating these developments, will cause no unpropitious reactions, because the op­portunities which it opens to the disciple in his re­lationships will have been largely anticipated dur­ing the period of technical discipline. He will stand firm as a rock in his own place, discerning the possibility of ignominious failure veiled withinthe fair form of insidious temptation which sud-

[ 1 5 8 ]

denly rises before him as a ministering angel, in­viting him, in the name of friendship and sym­pathy, to abate for a season the stern aspect of moral rectitude and unwelcome impersonality, even to a forgetting of his common manhood. The fire will descend and stimulate latent ambition to an astonishing degree. The single path to the Master will become twain, leading as surely back to worldly prestige and exploitations, as onward to other-worldliness; and if the disciple has not al­ready definitely made his choice, there will be cause for long delay, until the call of the soul emerges clear and dominant over the alluring voices of personal desire. Yet again, the descend­ing fire, wonderful and clarifying in its motion, will invest the personality with something of its own arresting magnetism and show the disciple ways and means, unlooked for and intriguing, to exploit the little ones who are weak and helpless before its masterful influence. Never let it be that the disciple will so use it. He will find no greater hell, and no swifter fall into it.

The history of discipleship is not without its record of failures. Power has sometimes been

[ 159]

sought in the name of the Master and for his sen vice, but the inquisition of it has proved too strong for a faulty mechanism, and the disciple has fallen in his own weakness before the portal of initia' tion. The tempter may be vanity; it may be sexual gratification; it may be intellectual pride; it may be other manifest weaknesses, only brought out and emphasized under the inquisition of fire, and which the Master in his compassion cannot com done. Prevalent as these failings are in the world of men, even adding influence to some in the com' mon way of life, in the disciple they appear as s o p

rowful aberrations which disfigure and thwart the whole purpose of his ministry. He may think otherwise because of the veil of illusion which the form of the temptation casts upon him. The cip cumstances surrounding it may appear to have so lawfully and unavoidably led to it, the setting in which it appears may so effectually metamorphose the deleterious aspects of it, that the issues are confused in the disciple’s heart and the personal dictate triumps. Nevertheless, there is the test, and the novitiate proposes the exact trainingwhereby the heart shall know itself by the patient

[ 160]

scrutiny of motives and the mind become appre' hensive of the causes and effects of these through the multiform intricacies of the technique unfolded by discriminating experience in human contacts.

In my previous book on the technique I said that I did not believe in the killing of ambition, as generally understood by aspirants; that the idea of slaying that which is the finished product of past fervent ambition did not appeal to me. In its connection with the theme then under co n sid er tion I adhere to that statement. But in the present view of the technique there is another aspect of the matter to be mentioned. When the disciple has worked his way to the point of recognition and acceptance and enters upon what I have called the cooperative group work of discipleship, he will have to make a decisive choice between living over again for his own personal satisfaction the ripe product of past ambition which is now so power' fully influential in his consciousness, and re' nouncing this for the higher and impersonal work to which his group affiliations invite him. I have spoken of this as one of the most poignant stages encountered during graduation in the technique.

[161]

____

And so I consider it. N o sooner is the alignment of the soul and personality established than the hidden culture and ability of the past begins to enter vigorously into the mind consciousness and emphatically demands recognition. There is ample data available among disciples to testify to the truth of this fact. The two paths open to the vision: the one, brilliant and inviting, from the past to the present, revealing what has been hero- ically sought and hardly won in the realm of mental achievement; the other, dimly sensed ahead, the only guide thereon the disciple’s own light set up, leading to a surrender or conversion of all to the service of the Master. The swift play of the two-edged sword of the inquisition of the descend­ing fire, divides the storied and speaking past from the untrodden and virgin future that promises technical comprehension and use of super-experi- ence. The disciple stands alone at this midway point. Both paths are seen: the one offering per­sonal power and enviable reputation in the eyes of men; the other, a passing selflessly into the hid­denness of subjective activity and a surrendering of

all powers and faculties to the silent leading of thef 162]

divine voice that breathes forth from the deep re­cesses of the flame. Once again, the aspirant may think, in the access of his enkindled enthusiasm, that a right choice would present no difficulty to him. But the fire of the soul will test him to a degree unknown to the unperturbed and reasoning mind. It is a far different matter to remain in calm possession of power and ability, to be exercised and enjoyed freely to our own personal advantage in any way we elect, without question or hind­rance, and, on the other hand, to have that pos­session, not questioned or condemned, but the ex­ercise and enjoyment of it diverted almost exclu­sively to the service of others in world work. The fire, working energetically in a powerful organiza­tion, will make the choice not an easy one. I do not say that a true disciple will fail to make a right choice and without loss of time. The choice, I be­lieve, will be made immediately it is presented: but while the soul unhesitatingly takes the onward path, the mind will dispute the justice of the re­nunciation it is compelled to make. It will demand

to add further laurels to its past achievements, be­cause they are seen to be so easily within reach.

[ 1 6 3 ]

It will protest that its personal satisfaction for greater expression is surely allowable in conjunc­tion with its speculation into the unknown. And the fuller the man, the more comprehensive the experience that has been accumulated and is now being released into consciousness through the pro­cess of alignment, the more insistent will be this demand and the protest almost pitiful in its in­tensity.

I am not dealing here with theories, with in­tellectual abstractions, but with the actual opera­tion of the technique within the mind and heart of the disciple. He is brought to trial before the bar of the soul. The life of discipleship is at stake. There are no advocates on either side. The dis­ciple stands alone before an invisible tribunal. It is the inquisition of fire. If he can bear it and pass on, it will be only upon the accumulated knowledge and strength he has brought with him. The portals of the temple remain hidden behind the flame. He may even doubt their existence and demand proof of them. There is no response, only silence, from which his own voice must arise. “ W e have to know of what he may be capable” :

[ 1 6 4 ]

whether he will hold fast to the coveted flower of the mind and add to its beauty and luxuriance with intellectual pride and self-gratulation, or pass on within the temple with ambition stilled by the peace of devotion and with empty hands, that the Master may place in them such instruments as he sees fittest for the greater work before him. W hat­ever the disciple thinks about having to make this choice, however he may question with himself the justice of it, a little reflection will reveal the per­fect wisdom of it. The mind will continue to be the greatest instrument in any work to be done, but in dealing with phases of the technique in others the ordinary faculties of the mind will prove totally inadequate. It is only by making a right choice to follow the call of the soul that extensions of these faculties can be entrusted to the disciple. These extensions open out new ranges of cognition and enable him to sense vibrations and register rhythms entirely outside the ordinary mental level. He can never perfect the technique on that level, nor attain to Masterhood upon it. The technique is of the soul and spirit. The Master’s inspiration derives from the superphysical. W hy

[ 1 6 5 ]

then should the disciple hesitate to pass on from that with which he is familiar and a complete master of, yet so relative in character, to that divine tuition to which his whole training has prompted him and which only the Master can im­part? Blessed indeed is the disciple to whom the inquisition comes in all its intensity and subtle challenges in response to his consistent and sus­tained petition. It is the Master’s solemn offer of acceptance.

The choice is made. The disciple has proved his impersonality and power of self- effacement. The inquisition of fire has not slain ambition: it has re­vealed a more excellent way to apply the fruits of it. The fire of the mind no longer agitates and craves for further conquests to hold as an isolated possession for self-aggrandizement and worldly re­putation. The fire of the spirit permeates the whole economy of the mortal man, bathing, tran­quillizing and healing the grieving nerves, stilling the discordant voices of desire and transmuting every adjunct of culture into a spiritual force for its service. This is a major conquest of the tech­nique and surpasses anything hitherto achieved,

[ 166]

for it places the disciple in a dominant position on the spiritual plane. He has yet to prove his strength in maintaining that position. The forms of temptation he has stripped of their illusion and mastered on the objective plane have been the means by which he has attained this ascendency. They reappear now to test him in a far more subtle form. A s a dominant and self-constituted spiritual force working for evolution, he is a menace to those psychic entities who are so interested in his advance as to desire his defeat, and spare no means to secure it. He will be subjected again and again to psychic impulsion from the dark side of unseen forces. They will endeavour to turn the disciple aside from his chosen path by most ingenious de­vices of glamour and illusion. So insidious are these attempts at any cost to thwart the disciple’s progress through personalities and circumstances, that he will need all the circumspection and wis­dom inculcated by his training in order to dis­criminate between deception and reality. This point need not be elaborated here. It is true in the experience of discipleship and merits special inves­tigation. One-pointed devotion and the power of

[ 1 6 7 ]

fearless challenge against all odds give the magical key to the situation. The disciple will remember the promise of the ritual: “ The demons will not dare to approach the place where you are; your voice will make them tremble in the depths of the abyss.” It is for the disciple to now demonstrate all the fine technical qualities which, by the grace of the Master, have been conferred upon him and, through steadfast and patient onward living, evoke the whole force of the soul to transcend every hindrance and counteract every opposing influence and initiate him into the presence of the Master.

V V V

Explanatory

T H E R O SIC R U C IA N O RD ER

V

^ j^ N T IC IP A T IN G questions which may be asked by

the readers of this book, the publishers wish to announce that there is but one universal Rosicrucian Order existing in the world today, united in its various juris- dictions, and having one Supreme Council in accordance with the original plan of the ancient Rosicrucian mani- festoes.

This international organization retains the ancient tra­ditions, teachings, principles, and practical helpfulness of the Brotherhood as founded centuries ago. It is known as the Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, which name is abbreviated for popular use into A M O RC. The North and South American jurisdiction of this Order maintains National Headquarters at San Jose, California, with branches distributed throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Those interested in knowing more of the history and present day offerings of the Rosicrucians may have a free copy of the book entitled, “ The Secret Herit­age,” by sending a definite request to F r i a r F. M. B.,A M O RC Temple, Rosicrucian Park, San Jose, California,

f 1 6 9 }

V V V

The Rosicrucian Library

Consists of a number of unique books which are described in the following pages, and which may be

purchased from the

R O SIC R U C IA N SUPPLY BU REA U

S a n J o s e , C a l if o r n ia .

V V V

Rosicrucian Questions and Answers W ith Complete History

of the OrderBy D r . H. S p e n c e r L e w is , F. R. C.

V

TH IS volume contains the first complete, authentic history of the Rosicrucian Order from ancient times to the present

day. The history is divided into two sections, dealing with the traditional facts and the established historical facts, and is replete with interesting stories of romance, mystery, and fascinating incidents.

This book is a valuable one since it is a constant reference and guide book. Questions that arise in your mind regarding many mystical and occult subjects are answered in this volume.

For many centuries the strange, mysterious records of the Rosicrucians were closed against any eyes but the high initiates. Even editors of great encyclopedias were unable to secure the weird, fascinating facts o f the Rosicrucian activities in all parts of the world. Now the whole story is outlined and it reads like a story from the land of the “ Arabian N ights."

The book also outlines answers to hundreds of questions dealing with the history, work, teachings, benefits, and purposes of the Rosicrucian fraternity. It is printed on fine paper, bound in silk cloth, and stamped in gold. Price, postage prepaid, $2.00.

Rosicrucian Principles for the Home and Business

B y D r . H . S p e n c e r L e w is , F . R . C .

V

TH IS volume contains such principles of practical Rosicrucian teachings as are applicable to the solution of the every'day

problems of life in business and in the affairs of the home. It deals exhaustively with the prevention of ill health, the curing o f many of the common ailments, and the attainment of peace and happiness as well as the building up of the affairs of life that deal with financial conditions. The book is filled with hundreds of practical points dealing especially with the problems of the average business man or person in business employ. It points out the wrong and right way for the use of metaphysical and mystical principles in attracting business, increasing one's income, promoting business propositions, starting and bringing into realization new plans and ideas, and the attainment o f the highest ambitions in life.

“ Rosicrucian Principles for the Home and Business” is not theoretical but strictly practical, and is in its fourth edition, having had a wide circulation and universal endorsement not only among members of the organization, who have voluntarily stated that they have greatly improved their lives through the application of its suggestions, but among thousands of persons outside of the organization. It has also been endorsed by busi­ness organizations and business authorities.

The book is of standard size, well printed, bound in silk cloth, and stamped in gold. Price, postage prepaid, $2.00.

The Mystical Life of JesusBy D r . H . S p e n c e r L e w is , F . R . C .

V

T H IS is the book that thousands have waited for— the real Jesus revealed at last! It was in preparation for a number

of years and required a visit to Palestine and Egypt to secure a verification of the strange facts contained in the ancient Rosicru- cian and Essene Records.

It is a full account of the birth, youth, early manhood, and later periods o f Jesus' life, containing the story of His activities in the times not mentioned in the Gospel accounts. The facts relating to the immaculate conception, the birth, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension will astound and inspire you. The book contains many mystical symbols, fully explained, original photographs, and a new portrait of Jesus.

There are over three hunded pages with seventeen large chapters, beautifully printed, bounded in purple silk, and stamped in gold.

Here is a book that will inspire, instruct, and guide every student of mysticism and religion. It is one of the most talked- about books ever written on the subject. Read it and be pre­pared for the discussion of it that you will hear among men and women of learning.

Sent by mail, postpaid, for $2.25.

“ Unto Thee I Grant . .Revised by S r i . R a m a t h e r i o

V

TH IS is one of the rarest Oriental mystery books known. It is translated by special permission of the Grand Lama and

Disciples of the Sacred College in the Grand Temple in Tibet.Here is a book that was written two thousand years ago,

and was hidden in manuscript form from the eyes of the world and given only to the initiates of the temples in Tibet to study privately.

Out of the mystery of the past comes this antique book con­taining the rarest writings and teachings known to man with the exception of the Bible. Hundreds of books have been written about the teachings and practices of the Masters of the Far East and the Adepts of Tibet, but none of them has ever contained the secret teachings found in this book. This book is divided into many parts, each part containing a large number of sections or divisions and chapters.

The book deals with man’s passions, loves, desires, weak­nesses, sins, strengths, fortitudes, ambitions, and hopes. All are treated in detail with illuminating simplicity. The book is beau­tifully printed and bound with stiff cover, and contains also the strange mystic story of the expedition into Tibet to secure this marvelous manuscript.

Price, per copy, postage prepaid, only $1.2?.

A Thousand Years of YesterdaysBy D r . H. S p e n c e r L e w is , F. R. C.

V

HER E is a book that will tell you more about the real facts of reincarnation than anything that was ever written. It is a

story of the soul, and explains in detail how the soul enters the body and how it leaves, where it goes to and when it comes back to earth again, and why.

The story i6 not just a piece of fiction, but a revelation of the mystic laws and principles known to the Masters of the Far East and the Orient for many centuries, and never put into book form as a story before this book was printed. That is why the book has been translated into so many foreign languages and endorsed by the mystics and adepts of India, Persia, Egypt, and Tibet.

Fascinating — Alluring — Instructive

Each who has read the book says that he was unable to leave it without finishing it at one sitting. The story reveals the mystic principles taught by the Rosicrucians in regard to reincarnation as well as the spiritual laws of the soul and the incarnations of the soul.

It is well printed, neatly bound with stiff cover, and worthy of a place in anyone's library.

Price, per copy, postage prepaid, only 8? cents.

Self Mastery and Fate with the Cycles of Life

By D r. H. S p e n c e r L e w is , F. R. C.

V

TH IS book is entirely different from any ever issued in America dealing with the secret periods in the life of each

man and woman wherein the Cosmic forces affect our daily affairs.The book reveals how we may take advantage of certain

periods to bring success, happiness, health, and prosperity into our lives, and it likewise points out those periods which are not favorable for many of the things we try to accomplish. It does not deal with astrology or any system of fortune telling, but presents a system long used by the Master Mystics in Oriental lands and which is strictly scientific and demonstrable. One reading of the book with its charts and tables will enable the reader to see the course of his life at a glance. It helps everyone to eliminate “ chance” and “ luck," to cast aside “ fate,” and replace these with Self Mastery.

Here is a book you will use weekly to guide your affairs throughout the years. There is no magic in its system, but it opens a vista of the cycle of the life of each being in a remark­able manner.

Well printed, bound in silk cloth, and stamped in gold to match other volumes of the Rosicrucian Library. Price, postage prepaid. $2.00.

Rosicrucian M anualBy D r . H. S p e n c e r L e w is , F. R. C.

V

TH IS practical book contains not only extracts from the Constitution of the Order of Rosicrucians, but a complete

outline and explanation of all of the customs, habits, and termi­nology of the Rosicrucians, with diagrams and explanations of the symbols used in the teachings, an outline of the subjects taught, a dictionary of the terms, a complete presentation of the principles of Cosmic Consciousness, and biographical sketches of important characters connected with the work. There are also special articles on the Great W hite Lodge and its existence, how to attain psychic illumination, the Rosicrucian Code of Life with thirty laws and regulations, and a number of portraits of prom­inent mystics including M aster K. H ., the Illustrious.

The technical matter contained in the text and in the hundred or more diagrams makes this book a real encyclopedia o f Rosi­crucian explanations, aside from the complete dictionary it con­tains.

The “ Rosicrucian M anual” is of large size, well printed, beautifully bound in red silk cloth, and stamped in gold. The fifth edition has been enlarged and improved in many ways. Price, postage prepaid, $2.00.

V o l u m e I X .

Mystics at PrayerBy M an y C i h l a r , F. R. C., Austrian Philosopher and Mystic

V

TH E first complete compilation of the famous prayers of the renowned mystics and adepts of all ages.

The book, “ Mystics at Prayer,” explains in simple language the reason of prayer, how to pray, and the Cosmic laws involved. You come to learn the real efficacy of prayer and its full beauty dawns upon you. W hatever your religious beliefs, this book makes your prayers the application not of words, but of helpful, divine principles. You will learn the infinite power of prayer. Prayer is man’s rightful heritage. It is the direct means of man’s communion with the infinite force of divinity.

“ Mystics at Prayer" is well bound, embossed in gold, printed on art paper in two colors, with deckled edge and tipped pages, sent anywhere, postpaid, $1.00.

Mansions of the Soul

The Cosmic Conception

B y D r . H. S p e n c e r L e w is , F. R. C.

V

RE IN C A R N A T IO N ! The world’s greatest disputed doctrine. The belief in reincarnation has had millions o f intelligent,

learned, and tolerant followers throughout the ages. Ringing through the minds and hearts of students, mystics, and thinkers have always been the words: “ W hy Are W e H ere?" Reincar' nation has been criticized by some as conflicting with sacred literature and without verification. This book reveals, however, in an astounding manner the many facts to support reincarnation. Quotations from eminent authorities, from Biblical and Sacred works substantiate reincarnation. This volume PR O V ES reincar' nation. It places it high above mere speculation. This book is without exaggeration the most complete, inspiring, enlightening book ever written on this subject. It is not a fiction story but a step by step revelation of profound mystical laws. Look at some of these fascinating, intriguing subjects:

The Cosmic Conception; The Personality of the Soul; Does Personality Survive Transition?; Heredity and Inheritance; Karma and Personal Evolution; Religion and Biblical V iew points; Christian References; Between Incarnations; Souls of Animals and the ' ‘U nborn"; Recollections of the Past.

The book contains over three hundred pages, beautifully printed, neatly bound, stamped in gold; it is a valuable asset to your library, economically priced. Price, per copy, postage pre' paid, only $2.00.

Lemuria — The Lost Continent of the Pacific

B y W i s h a r S. C e r v e

V

BE N E A T H the rolling, restless seas lie the mysteries o f for* gotten civilizations. Swept by the tides, half buried in the

sands, worn away by terrific pressure, are the remnants of a culture little known to our age of today. Where the mighty Pacific now rolls in a majestic sweep of thousands of miles, there was once a vast continent. This land was known as Lemuria, and its people as Lemurians.

W e pride ourselves upon the inventions, conveniences, and developments of today. W e call them modern, but these ancient and long-forgotten people excelled us. Things we speak of as future possibilities, they knew as everyday realities. Science has gradually pieced together the evidences of this lost race, and in this book you will find the most astounding, enthralling chapters you have ever read. How these people came to be swept from the face of the earth, except for survivors who have living descendants today, is explained. Illustrations and explanations of their mystic symbols, maps of the continent, and many ancient truths and laws are contained in this unusual book.

If you are a lover of mystery, of the unknown, the weird— read this book. Remember, however, this book is not fiction, but based on facts, the result o f extensive research. Does civilization reach a certain height, and then retrograde? Is the culture and progress of mankind in cycles, reaching certain peaks, and then returning to start over again? These questions and many more are answered in this intriguing volume. Read of the living descendants of these people, whose expansive nation now lies at the bottom of the Pacific. In the minds o f these descendants is the knowledge of the principles which in by-gone centuries made their forbears builders of an astounding civilization.

The book, “ Lemuria, the Lost Continent of the Pacific,” is beautifully bound, well printed, and contains many, many illus­trations. It is economically priced at $2.20, postpaid.

V o lu m e X I I I .

The Technique of the Master

The W ay of Cosmic Preparation

B y R a y m u n d A n d r e a , F. R. C.

V

A G U ID E to inner unfoldmcnt! The newest and simplest explanation for attaining the state of Cosmic Consciousness.

To those who have felt the throb of a vital power within, and whose inner vision has at times glimpsed infinite peace and happiness, this book is offered. It converts the intangible whispers of self into forceful actions that bring real joys and accomplish­ments in life. It is a masterful work on psychic unfoldment.

It is well bound in cloth, with deckled and tinted edged paper. Secure this treasure for yourself. Economically priced, postage prepaid, at $1.85.

■

The Mystery and Prophecy of The Great Pyramid

By C h a r l e s S. K n i g h t , D. D.

V

HERE is a book that will fascinate and astound you with its vivid portrayal of one of the greatest mysteries of the ages—

The Great Pyramid. Its scientific construction, mystical symbol' ism, prophetic value, and the strangeness of its origin are so admirably discussed and explained by the author, Dr. Charles S. Knight, D. D., lecturer and theologian, that it easily enables one to penetrate the cloud of mystery enveloping this miracle in stone.

For centuries, the pyramid, a man-made mountain, has stood as a sentinel guarding the secret purposes of its builders. For years, modern savants debated— was it a mighty tomb to aggrandize a vain pharaoh, as were the lesser pyramids, or was it a temple of learning, a silent tribute in unspoken eloquence of a wisdom long since forgotten? Recent discoveries have confirmed the latter opinion, and the ancient sciences stand revealed in their pro­fundity. Interpretation of the pyramid symbolism has revealed with startling exactitude many o f the prophecies contained in the Christian Bible. You will be astonished as its mystical numerical code prophesies great events to occur in the future.

Your library is incomplete without this exceptional book offer. It has two hundred pages, illustrated with essential drawings and charts, and is well-printed and bound with hard cover.

Price, per copy, postage prepaid, only $1.25.

V o l u m e X V .

The Boo\ of JasherThe Sacred Book Withheld

V

BY W H A T R IG H T has man been denied the words of the prophets? Who dared expurge from the Holy Bible one of

its inspired messages? For centuries man has labored under the illusion that there has been preserved for him the collected books of the great teachers and disciples— yet one had been withheld “ The Book of Jasher.”

Within the hallowed pages of the great Bible itself are ref­erences to this lost book which have puzzled the devout and students for centuries. As if by Divine decree, the Bible appears to cry out to mankind that its sanctity had been violated, its truth veiled, for we find these two passages exclaiming: “ Is not this written in the 'Book of Jasher'— Joshua X III; Behold, it is written in the ‘Book of Jasher’— Samuel 1-18."

Alcuin discovered this great lost book of the Bible written by Jasher. He translated it into English in 800 A. D. Later it was suppressed and then rediscovered in 1829, and once again sup­pressed.

But now we bring to you an actual Photographic Reproduction of this magnificent work, page for page, line for line, unex- purgated. This enlightening work, bound in its original style, is priced at only $2.00 per copy, postage paid.

H O W TO O R D ER BOOKS

If your regular book dealer does not have these books in stock, and you do not care to wait until he secures them for you, you may save time by sending your order direct, with remittance or C. O. D., postage prepaid by us.

R O SIC R U C IA N SUPPLY BU REA U

R o s i c r u c i a n P a r k , S a n Jo s e , C a l i f o r n i a , U. S. A.